The Flash: What makes a hero
by DakotaBeor
Summary: After a series of unfortunate events and multiple coincidences, Alicia Norris is dragged into a world of which she doesn't belong. However, after a lot of resistance, Alicia begins to realise that perhaps being a hero isn't a bad thing? (Begins during S1 EP4) (Barry x OC)
1. Chapter 1 - Innocence

**The Flash: Discover what makes a hero**

**Chapter One – Innocence**

Central City stood tall and proud beside the Missouri river, its tall skyscrapers sparkling angelically as the light from the sun reflected off the sheen glass; creating a similar effect to the shimmering river below. Cars and people rammed the city's streets, as they began their daily commute once more in the quest to go get 'lunch'.

Flittering through the wind softly, a small dried leaf rode the currents across the city; twisting and turning majestically as it softly floated towards the ground. Coming to a rest on the cold harsh sidewalk, the leaf was instantly crushed by the thick leather boot of one particular commuter.

"Hmph" The woman sighed as she dragged her sole along the stone ground to remove the leaf from the rubber bottom of her sole. Turning, she proceeded to join the bustling queue of people into the city's theatre. Submerging herself through the thin glass doors, the young woman smiled as the warmth of the theatre wrapped around her. Sighing softly, she proceeded to take a deep breath of its familiar musty smell.

"Alicia?"

Turning, the young woman; Alicia, greeted a familiar face. Her best friend, Andrew. "Andy!" She exclaimed as the security guard approached her and embraced her in a tight hug.

"It's good to see that you still visit, even after so many years!" Andy smirked sarcastically as he unravelled his arms away from Alicia.

"It's only been three months, Andy" Alicia commented as she began to slip her leather jacket off from her shoulders. "I start my new job tomorrow"

"Oh yeah, and where was that again?" Andy asked curiously as he took the jacket away from Alicia, his arm encircling her shoulders in a friendly motion as he began to lead her towards his office which sat nestled between the two stairwells.

"It was at the museum across the road" Alicia chimed, her eyes alight with curiosity, "See! I'm not moving away too far! I can still be your coffee runner!"

"I'm surprised you left us in the first place" Andy commented as he opened the small cream painted door to the office. Walking inside, Alicia leant against the wooden desk of one of the other security guards, her arms crossing over her chest as she watched Andy close the door and begin to hang up her jacket.

"Andy, you know why I had to leave" Alicia droned as she began to play with her nails, "The money at the museum is better"

"I know" Andy sighed as he walked over and collapsed in his office chair, his hands clasped tightly across his lap. "I know"

"Remember, you're still my one and only friend in this city. Just because I'm changing job roles doesn't mean I'm abandoning you?" Alicia paused, biting her lip as she noted the defeated look in her ex co-workers eyes. Eager to change the topic of conversation, Alicia tilted her head in the direction of the guard's desk; her eyes linking with the framed image of a little girl. "How is she then?"

"Oh!" Andy smirked as he turned to the picture. Leaning forwards, Andy clasped the picture tightly between his calloused hands, as he ran a finger over the younger girl's image. "Little Jess turned two yesterday!"

"Wow" Alicia noted as she leant against a nearby desk, her eyes wandering over to the CCTV monitors of the theatre. "She's getting big, I still remember picking you and Monica up to go to the hospital!"

"Yeah" Andy sighed as he placed the picture back on the side, "I think she is also getting a little sad that her daddy isn't always around when she needs him"

"It must be hard, working half the night and half the day" Alicia commented as she continued to watch the black and white images of the theatre and hallway, people were slowly filing into the theatre, chatting away ready to enjoy the afternoon's performance. "Have you ever thought of, perhaps, leaving as well?"

"I have, I need to be there for her. It's not just about me anymore." Andy answered instantly, "I have applied for a security position at the bank" The man smirked as he also joined Alicia in staring at the images on the screen. "Much better hours"

"No more night time antics then." Alicia chuckled as she stood up from the desk and began to head towards the door. "What will this theatre do without the both of us? Eh?"

"It would be an awfully boring place for one" Andy smirked as he rose from his chair, embracing Alicia in one last hug. "Come back again another time, Yeah?"

"That's if you're still here" Alicia mumbled as she pulled away from the hug, her fist lightly punching Andy in the arm as she backed away for the door. "Because, I know you, you're going get that job" who wouldn't want to hire you?"

Andy beamed as he nodded slowly. "Thanks Ali, Anyway off you go- I've got to begin the last checks of the day and you're usual viewing starts around about now"

Waving Alicia closed the door behind her as she headed up the stairs and towards the theatre. The walls were a light cream wallpaper, one which matched the dark crimson carpet which spanned the area of the entrance. Artistic interpretations of angels and heaven spanned the walls as it gave the theatre a majestic feel.

Pausing from her architectural reverie, Alicia caught sight of her reflection in a nearby mirror, turning the young woman carefully adjusted her appearance. Her long auburn hair hung in loose curls, framing her lightly freckled face. Wide grey eyes stared back at her with sadness, as deep dark bags clung underneath them. She looked a right state as per usual.

Shaking away her thoughts, Alicia corrected her white blouse before submerging herself through the open oak doors of theatre and into the main seating area. Although the theatre was not as packed as it usually was, there was still a healthy number of people turning out to watch the Les Miserables performance.

That was until screams began to erupt from the main reception. Confused, Alicia jumped to her feet, her eyes wide as she slowly walked back to the oak doors she had passed through. The rest of the audience, seemed to take the screams as warning and began to run towards the fire exit doors at the back of the theatre.

Reaching the open oak doors, Alicia pressed herself against the wall beside them, before peaking around to get a view of the foyer. In the middle of the room, stood a man clad in a blue winter's coat, thick black googles hid his eyes as he held a glowing white gun up towards the ceiling, a mist slowly radiating off it and floating to the ground.

Opposite the man, stood a police officer. Although he wasn't in uniform, the man had a golden badge hanging around his neck. However, his presence appeared to offer little reassurance for the trapped bystanders surrounding them. "Stop this, Snart!" The officer ordered.

Alicia leaned in closer with intrigue as 'Snart' dropped his gun so that it was level with the officer. The effect was instant, within seconds Snart had pulled the trigger, releasing a streaming beam of ice cold energy towards the poor man. Remaining concealed, Alicia brought her hands to her mouth as she supressed a gasp for what was to come.

However, the shot never hit. If Alicia had of blinked she would have missed it, but from behind the officer a red streak followed by yellow lightening swiped forwards, colliding with the officer causing him to fly across the room out of harm's way.

"Alicia!" Andy shouted from the stage of the theatre, Turning Alicia pressed her fingers against her lips as she signalled for the guard to hide. "GET OUT OF THERE!" Andy repeated.

"ARGH!" A cry tore through the theatre. Ignoring her friend Alicia turned her attention back to where the officer had been standing, the room appeared empty except for the villainous Snart standing in the centre of the room and what looked like a red leg sticking out from behind one of the pillars.

Wanting to get a closer look, the young woman ducked lower as she ran forwards into the foyer, tucking into a spot behind the stone banister which lined the stairwell. "ALICIA!" Andy shouted, his voice barely audible from the foyer.

Pinching at the dark green tapestry which hung across the banister, Alicia peeped down into the lower level; pleased to note that her position gave her a better view of the mysterious man in red.

Although she couldn't see a face, Alicia could clearly distinguish the chest of the red man, his chest appeared to be heaving in quick short gasps. Frowning, the young woman noted a sparking substance clinging to the man's chest. He had been hit. "It burns" The voice hissed as if in response.

The man in the centre of the room seemed to smirk sadistically, as he readied his gun once more; pointing it towards the pillar. "I know your weakness. Let's see how fast you really are"

Once again a shot was fired at the pillar, encasing it in an icy shell. Turning her attention back to the man in red, Alicia was surprised to find that he had disappeared.

The man in red couldn't have been the red streak that had appeared from no-where? Could he? That was impossible.

Another beam of ice fired from the gun as it headed towards some bystanders, their faces one of pure horror as they cowered in fear. The deadly beam however, never hit them as a red blur engulfed them and they disappeared from sight; leaving the wall behind them to take the brunt of the blast.

"Oh my god"

Turning to the origin of the voice, Alicia was shocked to find the same couple cowered in the hallway across from her, the larger man embracing the woman as they both looked about the room in confusion.

Turning back to the foyer, Alicia watched as Snart pointed the gun at another couple trying to run away up the stairs to her left. However, once more, before the beam could hit them a red blur encased them and they disappeared from sight.

"What the-" Alicia murmured as she went to peep back at Snart once again, only as she did, the young woman realised that his attention was now on her; the cold gun pointed in her direction. Rising from her hiding place, Alicia turned either side to search for some cover to escape and found none.

Snart smirked and pulled the trigger, the beam heading towards her at an alarming rate. That was before something encircled her waist, and her vision became red. Wind whipped through her hair as she was carried away from the beam and back into the main theatre. The room a blur as everything moved too fast for her to comprehend.

As fast as it had happened, it was gone and she was lying face down between the rows of chairs of the theatre. Thankful for whatever had saved her, the young woman pressed her cheek against the suede of the red chairs as she peered through a gap and towards the entrance. From the doors she could see the familiar glow of the freezing gun, suggesting Snart had moved up the stairs and was now standing on the landing.

But where was his target? Wide eyed, Alicia turned back around; identifying Andy. Her best friend seemed to be frozen in his tracks, his eyes wide and face solemn as he appeared to accept his fate. Summarising, Alicia decided that after she had moved into the foyer, Andy must have decided to follow; taking the time to see the remaining survivors out before climbing down the stage and heading towards the entrance.

"ANDY!" Alicia cried as she jumped to her feet. With a shrill screech, the beam from the gun began its journey across the theatre. The ice tumbling in a wide arcing motion as it headed towards the chest of her only friend. She would never make it in time to push him out of the way, so instead she was made to stand and watch. In a flash of red and white, the young woman closed her eyes with anticipation, her fingers crossed and heart filled with hope as the red streak made its way towards her friend.

"NO!"

Opening her eyes, Alicia rushed forwards into the walkway of the theatre, her eyes watering at the sight before her. On the ground, where her friend had been standing moments before, was a body. Stumbling forwards numbly, Alicia felt the tears beginning to carve rivers into her cheeks. Her arms hanging limply by her sides as she approached the fallen security guard. Hovering over him, was the man in red; his hand clasping the Andy's shoulder.

Reaching them, Alicia fell to her knees as she stared down at the frozen corpse of her friend. His eyes wide and face in the same solemn expression it had been before, although all life appeared to have been sucked from him. Feeling weak, Alicia reached forwards her fingertips brushing his freezing cheek before struggling to force his eyes to close. It truly was a gruesome sight.

Sensing eyes on her, Alicia turned to face the man in red. Finally she got a good look at his face, but at what cost? Her curiosity got her friend killed. Swallowing away the dry knot in her throat, Alicia stared into the eyes of the impossible man who had saved her life. His eyes shimmered a mossy green colour as he appeared to also be on the brink of shedding a tear.

Struggling to form words to convey her gratitude, Alicia continued to stare with her mouth ajar, and tears streaming from her eyes. In response, the man in red smiled sadly, his hand moving to rest on her own shoulder as he squeezed it tightly.

They stayed like that for a few moments, before in a rush of air, he was gone again.


	2. Chapter 2 - Ordinary Lies

**Chapter 2 – Ordinary Lies**

The police had arrived on the scene within moments, of course an officer had already been on the scene from the beginning, but this was different. Alicia held her arms across her chest as she stared down towards her feet in silence. Officers swarmed around her as they continued to cut off and secure the theatre. In the corner, two officers had begun to take witness statements from the bystanders; their faces one of confusion as they listened to the tales of the man in red. The impossible man.

But it was this curiosity in the red streak that had gotten her friend killed. Andy was only trying to look out for her, perhaps if she had taken his warning and left then…. Nothing would have happened. Jess would still have a father.

Biting her lip to control the sudden urge to cry, Alicia turned in her spot and wandered into a small alcove of the theatre, her eyes wandering around the room in a vain attempt to drain away the build-up of tears. The room still showed all the signs of a battle; covering the walls were the icy scars of what the gun had caused, sparkling softly in the light.

Spotting a nearby cluster of ice, Alicia wandered towards the corner of the room in which the first bystanders to be attacked had stood. Large towering icicles protruded from the wall from the impact of the beam, as the sunlight shone through the glass doors it reflected off the crystal clear ice, causing the light to split and a spectrum of colours to be projected over the nearby pillars. It could almost be considered beautiful, if the meaning behind its creation hadn't been a deadly one.

"Alicia Norris?"

Alicia turned to face the two officers who had been interviewing the other bystanders. One of the men was the officer she recognised from the beginning of the fight; he had dark hair and bright hazel eyes which radiated comfort. His stature was broad however, suggesting that he was the last person you wanted to get in a fist fight with. Beside the more senior officer stood his partner, with bright blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, Alicia decided that the man before her was the stereotypical good guy cop from almost ninety-nine percent of American TV shows.

"Alicia?"

Realising that she hadn't answered for some time, Alicia pulled herself from her amusing reverie. "Sorry, Yes?"

"My name is Detective Joe West" The senior of the two stated, "This is my partner, Eddie Thawne"

"Hello" Eddie greeted with a friendly smile.

"Hi" Alicia responded as she brought her hands up to play with the hem of her sleeve. "How can I help you guys?"

"We understand that you know the deceased" Joe continued carefully, his eyes narrowing as he formulated his next words carefully. "Were you a relative or?"

"No" Alicia interrupted immediately, "Have you not searched his office yet?"

The two officers seemed to shake their head in a confused manner. Proceeding onwards with her point, Alicia felt the tears begin to well behind her eyes. "He is-" The young woman choked as she corrected herself, "-was married, with a young daughter. I am- was just a close family friend"

"Oh" Eddie frowned deeply, his hand reaching outwards as he placed it gently onto Alicia's shoulder. "I apologise for your loss"

"No need to" Alicia mumbled, "It was my fault that he died In the first place, if I hadn't of run back into that stupid foyer…"

"Why did you?" Eddie pushed onwards, his eyes intrigued as he lifted his small leather notebook higher. Pressing his pen against the paper, the detective waited with baited breath. "Why did you go back in when you knew it was dangerous? Did you see anything out of the ordinary?"

Alicia paused as she watched Joe send Eddie a wayward glance. She could tell the two officers the truth, that the reason she stayed in the foyer was because of an impossible streak; a similar story to the other bystanders. But then it would make her look just as delirious. From overhearing the conversations of the other surrounding officers, the department seemed to already be discarding the possibility of a man possessing super human speed. Instead deciding to pass it off as a sign of shock.

"Because I wanted to see what the commotion was about, perhaps I did it because I thought I might be able to offer what little support I could to Detective West" Alicia gestured towards Joe, his eyebrow twitching upwards in response. It was around about then that she realised the flaw in her plan.

"Thank-you" Detective West stated with gratitude, "Although, I doubt any of us would have been able to stop him with that gun"

Alicia froze. Had he seriously just let her get away with such a blatant lie? Detective West himself had also been saved by the same red streak that so many were speaking off. Had the whole impossible man scenario really just been an illusion from the shock? Alicia continued onwards with her internal debate, the moment the impossible man had placed a hand on her should seemed too real, too warm to be a fragmented illusion… had it really happened? Or was the grief from losing her best friend beginning to take its toll on her tired mind. Deciding that enough was enough, the young woman straightened her back in resolve.

"I'm sorry but I have to go" Alicia apologised as she went to move past the officers.

"But we still-"

"Of course" Joe cut off his partner with a short elbow to the side, "We may need to ask you some more questions at a later date, but for now it's probably best you get some rest. It's been quite a day, for all of us."

"Thank-you, Detectives" Alicia pulled the best false smile she could muster, "Oh- Do you think I would be able to take my jacket from Andy's office? I know it might be evidence-"

Joe smiled warmly as he waved his hand, "The office wasn't entered at any point by Snart, I am sure they will allow a young woman to collect her coat to leave. As for Andy's family… Eddie and I will probably be heading over there next to inform them of their loss. Perhaps at some point in the next few days, you might want to drop by and offer your support.-" Joe paused as he seemed to take in Alicia's appearance. "In your own time of course"

Nodding slowly, Alicia offered a short wave before she turned and began what seemed like the longest walk towards Andy's office; the floor seemingly growing in length as she approached the small wooden door. Unlike before however, the wooden door was ajar. Hesitantly, Alicia quietly peeped around the door noting the presence of a tall, slender man. He had dark brunette hair, which appeared to be swept to the side. Additionally the young man was wearing a black waterproof jacket; a green and white checked shirt flailing from the bottom where it was stuffed beneath a baby blue jumper.

Wearing bright white latex gloves, the officer appeared to be analysing the office for any clues. However, upon closer inspection; Alicia noted he was staring at one object in particular. The picture of Jess.

"That is- was his daughter" Alicia announced as she entered the room. "He was looking for another job, so that he could be there for her more often"

Dropping the frame clumsily, the man tuned around to face Alicia; his face one of shock as he glanced between the fallen picture and the young woman before him. Smirking at his reaction for the briefest of moments, Alicia took in the rest of his appearance. His hair was indeed swept to side as it highlighted his angled face. Light green eyes stared back at her full of hope. They almost reminded her of the streak's eyes.

"Weren't you ever told that sneaking up on people is rude?" The young man accused as a small mischievous smile filled his features. Stepping forwards the officer extended his hand, "My names Barry"

"Alicia" She greeted as she accepted the hand with a slight shake. Turning her attention back to her coat, the young woman shifted to the right and began to pull the black leather jacket for the coat stand. "Do you mind if I?"

Following her gaze to the jacket, Barry shook his head furiously, "No, no, no, no- take it if it's yours!" He paused as he considered what he had said, "but of course it's yours otherwise you wouldn't be taking it"

"No" Alicia smirked at the man's goofy response, "It's not mine, I just fancy a change… Does it suit me?" The young woman flicked her head to the side, her hair flying across her face as she pulled a mock pose.

Barry chucked in response as Alicia regained her composure and returned to pulling the leather jacket over her shoulders. "Were you a relative of Andy?" Barry questioned suddenly, his face changing into one of remorse.

"No" Alicia answered, "No- I was just close a friend. He… he was my only friend. Andy was a good man, always putting other before himself. He didn't deserve to die."

"He sounded like a good man" Barry stated simply, noticing Alicia's eyes beginning to well; the scientist instantly changed the topic. "I'm sure a girl like you has plenty of friends" he added quickly, his arms slipping into the pockets of his coat.

"Even if I did, nobody is going to want to know me anymore now." Alicia glanced upwards at Barry, "Not after I got him killed."

"You didn't get him killed" Barry countered instantly, his body stepping closer to the young woman's. "There was nothing you could have done"

"No offence, Barry, but how would you know?" Alicia sighed as she brought her hand upwards to wipe away the tears from her eyes. Alicia was pretty sure that she had some impressive panda eyes by now. "You weren't there and you don't know me." Turning, the young woman left the small office and began to wander towards the glass doors of the building.

"From what I've heard-" Barry came up beside her, his arm catching her elbow and forcing Alicia to turn. "There was no way that he would have escaped the blast from that gun, It's a miracle as many of you survived as you did"

Alicia took little comfort from the remark. She could have always done something more. "Thanks" She uttered quietly; pulling a false smile upon her features.

Barry allowed his grip on Alicia's arm to falter, as he dropped it in a defeated manner.

"Barry!" Detective West signalled for Barry him in the corner, the tone in his voice one of urgency.

Turning back to face her, Barry smiled sadly before gesturing towards Joe. "I need to go"

Donning a cheery façade, Alicia tilted her head to the side. "It was nice to meet you Barry, and I don't mean to sound rude but-" The young woman gestured to the latex gloves. "Due to your line of work- I hope we don't meet again?"

Barry smirked as he peeled the gloves off his hands, "Neither do I"

Laughing Alicia waved goodbye as she turned, her hands pressing against the cold glass of the theatre as she emerged into the bustling streets of Central City. A cold blast of wind wrapped around her, causing the young woman to shiver violently. The action instantly caused images of her frozen friend flashed before her eyes, the way the ice stuck to his skin; encasing him in a frigid cocoon of his final moments.

Opening her phone book, Alicia glanced down at the contact list; her fingers shaking as she slowly highlighted Monica's name. Joe had been right, she should contact Andy's family sooner rather than later. It just that, she didn't think she could handle being an emotional cushion at that moment. Stuffing her phone into her bag, Alicia began to power walk down the street towards the nearest liquor store. At this point she didn't care about the new job, she just needed to have a drink.


	3. Chapter 3 - A drink too many

**Chapter 3- A drink too many**

At night, Central City looked as beautiful as it did during the day. Tall buildings shimmered as the lights from its occupied rooms slowly went out for the night. One particular apartment in the Chubbuck district of the city appeared to do the same, except for one stubborn light which remained on. That particular light, was known as Alicia Norris.

"YOUR GONE AND I GOT TO STAY HIGH, ALL THE TIME TO KEEP YOU OFF MY MIND!" Alicia sang loudly as she span around in the centre of her apartment, a large glass of clear liquid clasped tightly between her hands. Stumbling, the woman neared the stereo as she twisted the volume upwards.

Swaying softly as a form of dance, the young woman brought her drink to her lips; taking large mouthful. Alicia flinched as the neat vodka slid down her throat, leaving a burning sensation to embrace her tongue. Bringing her hand to her hair, she continued to sway erratically.

The apartment was a state. Two bottles of beer sat empty on the table, beside two shot glasses and a bottle of whiskey. Across from them a large bottle of vodka appeared to have fallen over at some point during the night, spilling alcohol across the wooden floor. Ignoring the puddle, the woman approached the large mirror which hung across a small chest of draws. Staring at her reflection, she sighed with pity.

Allowing her head to fall, Alicia noted the variety of pictures atop the chest of draws. They were of various people who stood out in her life; family, friends… feeling her eyes well, the young woman picked out one image in particular. "Andy" She sighed.

They both seemed happy in the picture, Andy had a small bundle of joy wrapped tightly in his arms; his eyes alight as the new dad beamed brightly. Beside him, Alicia stood with a thumbs up; purple latex gloves covering her hands as they contrasted against the bright green jumper she wore. Feeling anger well through her, Alicia turned in frustration; her hand slamming the picture face down into the oak wood of the draws.

A loud banging suddenly erupted from the wall at the far back of the apartment. Turning, Alicia frowned as she approached it.

"KEEP IT QUITE IN THERE!" The voice shouted, although barely audible over the music. "OR I'LL CALL THE COPS!"

Smashing her fist back against her own wall, Alicia retaliated; her teeth gritted in anger. She continued to pummel the wall until the banging stopped. Content of her success, Alicia placed one hand on her hip as she took another large swig of her drink.

Suddenly, the banging returned. Only this time, it appeared to be resonating from the window on the far right of the apartment. Skipping past the small table in the centre of the room, Alicia leapt as graciously as she could over her sofa before stumbling towards the curtains; the action causing her to spill almost all of her drink across the sofa and floor.

Gripping the curtains tightly, she whipped them open with an unsteady spin. To say the least, Alicia gasped as she took in the presence of a man clad in red; his knees bent as he crouched low on the fire exit attached to the side of the apartment. Alicia continued to stare at the masked man from earlier in the day. The impossible man.

Seemingly confused, he began to gesture for her to open the window. However, forever star struck, Alicia just continued to stare with her mouth agape in confusion. "WHAT!" She cried.

Sighing, the man in red appeared to role his eyes before gesturing for the window to be opened once again. Panicking, Alicia quickly pulled the curtains closed.

Eyes wide, the young woman glanced between the window and her drink. "No… I must be seeing things" She mumbled.

Clutching the curtains once again with her free hand, the young woman threw them open a second time. Only as she did, no-one appeared to be waiting. Shaking her head, Alicia ran her hand through her hair slowly; tugging away at the knots which blocked her path. "I have definitely had one drink too many"

"I think you've had more than one drink too many"

Alicia spun at the presence of a new voice. She didn't recognise it at all, as it seemingly echoed around the room. Wide eyed, the woman took in the impossible man who stood before her.

Feeling her grip on her glass loosen, Alicia felt her head spin as she stumbled backwards slightly. Only to sense the strong grip of the man in red embrace her shoulders. With a loud crash, the glass clashed to the floor, spilling the remaining vodka across its wooden surface.

"Ops" The man tilted his head at the mess on the floor.

"You could have caught that!" She accused with a frown, her hands latching onto her nearby desk as she pried herself away from the man in red's grip.

"It was catch the drink… or catch you" He smiled, "Either way, I have the feeling you would have blamed me"

"Well it is your fault!" Alicia sighed as she felt her knees beginning to quake, "Don't you know that it's wrong to sneak up on people!"

At that the man smirked mischievously. Alicia had prepared a comeback for the cheeky grin, but as soon as she had released her arm for an accusatory finger, her legs had given away once more sending her falling to the ground in an ungracious manner. Flailing like a fish, Alicia felt the familiar arms of the masked man embrace her as he whisked her across the room in a blur; pushing her onto the alcohol soaked sofa.

Bringing a hand to her mouth, Alicia suppressed the gag which threatened to tear through her throat. "Don't… move… so fast again"

"Sorry" The man stated as he glanced around the apartment, "I forget what being drunk feels like sometimes."

The red streak allowed his eyes to wander, taking in each and every detail around him. Slowly, he approached the stereo, his fingers fumbling clumsily with the volume controls before deciding to turn it off completely.

"THANK GOD!" The voice from the apartment over sounded through the wall. "NEXT TIME I'M GOING TO JUST CALL THE COPS STRAIGHT AWAY! YOU HEAR!"

The impossible man smirked as he turned to face Alicia, his expression amused as she could only imagine him raising an eyebrow towards her. Taking the moment to evaluate him, Alicia noted his suit. It was of a deep crimson colour, small lines of gold tracing the suit where the seams in the material appeared to be. In the centre of his chest, was a circular symbol; complete with a golden lightning bolt cutting through it. Either side of where his ears would be, were also similar lightning bolt symbols.

Sighing, Alicia allowed her head to roll back; her eyes screwing shut at the nausea the movement produced. "I don't think I have ever drunk enough to hallucinate before."

The man laughed as he continued to move around the room, Alicia tilted her head and returned to watching him. Slowly, he reached the mirror where he picked up the picture she had placed downwards. "Something tells me you don't drink much at all."

"How could you know that?" Alicia hiccupped, her hands flying to her mouth in surprise.

"You're drinking vodka out of a whiskey glass, and whiskey out of a shot glass" The man stated back matter-of-factly. Carefully, he seemed to replace the image of herself and Andy back in its usual spot; moving with care not to knock any of the other frames.

Alicia felt her cheeks flush a deep red as she reached forwards, hiding the shot glass filled to the brim with whiskey; which had been left on the table side. Reaching outwards for a pillow, the young woman cuddled it tightly as she continued to stare at the masked man.

"Is your voice usually that weird?" Alicia questioned, her mind working overtime as she narrowed her eyes inwardly. "It sounds like you're constantly talking into a tin can"

"No" He replied with a smirk. "I vibrate my vocal cords so that it distorts my voice."

The impossible man turned back around to face Alicia. His hands clasping onto the side of the draws as he leant backwards. "Is your apartment usually this messy?"

"No" Alicia replied with a similar smile, "Only when I decide to get friendly with some vodka."

They both laughed slightly before lapsing into a silence once more, his eyes taking on a different façade as he shuffled forwards to sit on the damp sofa beside her. Shifting her feet to provide the man some space, Alicia turned to face her rescuer. "Is this because of security guard?"

"Andy?" Alicia paused, her head was still spinning from the alcohol meaning her usual judgement wasn't as sharp as it normally was. Without a second thought she answered, "Yes, I… I got him killed"

"You didn't" The man answered without hesitation, "If anyone is to blame then it would be me, I wasn't fast enough"

At this Alicia laughed. She hadn't meant to, but for some unknown reason the whole situation seemed hysterical. Feeling the nausea return, the young woman shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry, but you're the fastest man I have ever seen!"

"No fast enough-"

"So?" Alicia cut across, "You tried to save Andy, I watched you run next to that beam. A beam which my eyes could barely keep up with"

The man tilted his head in consideration, causing Alicia to note that he still needed convincing. "You went to save him." Alicia threw her pillow forwards, smirking as it hit the impossible man in face. "That's more than anyone else would have done, while everyone else was running away you were running forwards."

Alicia considered her next words carefully, pausing to allow herself to hiccup softly. "I know this may sound rich coming from someone like me, but, sometimes in life you need to realise that you can't always save everyone, sometimes you won't be 'fast' enough- but you can fix it by making sure that next time? You are."

The man smiled brightly as he nodded, his hands pushing the pillow to the side as he stared into her eyes intently. "Thank-you Alicia. You know, the real reason I came here was to apologise for running off and leaving you in the theatre on your own, and to say thank you for keeping my presence a secret. But, perhaps you should take your own advice once and a while. Realise that… you aren't to blame either."

The young woman gasped as she tilted her head in thought, "How did you know that I-"

"That would be telling" The man teased.

Alicia smiled in agreement, acknowledging that he didn't want to share his secret. "Maybe I should take my advice, it's pretty good after all."

Reaching outwards she picked up the hidden shot of whiskey once more before pushing it towards the man in the red suit, identifying a second shot glass; the young woman leaned forwards as she clasped it tightly from across the table.

"I don't think this is a good idea" The impossible man mumbled, pressing a finger against his lips, the young woman shook her head.

"SHHHHH"

Shakily, Alicia proceeded to pour another shot of whiskey. Task complete with minimal spillage over herself, the young woman turned back to the impossible man; shot glass raised. "To Andy"

"To Andy" He repeated.

Knocking the whiskey back, the young woman supressed the urge to gag once more as the room rocked violently. Slamming the glass down, she was surprised to see the impossible man already standing upwards; his empty shot glass on the table.

"I need to go" He announced with urgency, pressing two of his fingers against the yellow lightning bolt symbol across his ear, the masked man appeared to tilt his head in concentration. "There's a robbery"

"Okay" Alicia mumbled as she also jumped to her feet. Stumbling, the young woman found herself clutching onto the impossible man tightly. Why was the room so insistent on spinning?

"Just two more questions?" She mused, her hands releasing him from the deadly grip she supported herself with.

"Just two" He smirked.

"Okay… One-" Alicia paused to consider her question carefully. "What's your name? Because if you haven't got one yet I was just going to start calling you 'Bullet Bill'".

Feeling her cheeks flare a deep red at her pathetic ramblings, Alicia watched with mild interest as the impossible man grinned brightly; his eyes alight with creativity. "It's great, but, I was thinking- 'The Flash?'"

"Flash?" Alicia echoed, "That's a good name"

"You'll be the first one to use it" The Flash added, his arms grasping onto Alicia's as her knees once again threatened to give way. Noting the slight look of worry in his eyes, the young woman proceeded onto her final question.

"Number two…" She continued, freezing a moment as the room finally stopped spinning. Feeling weightless, Alicia tilted her head in confusion; her vision darkening around the edges as spots began to flitter across her eyes. "What does it feel like to pass out?"

"Pass out?" The Flash echoed. However that was the last thing she heard before submerging into the endless oblivion that is darkness.


	4. Chapter 4 - Redemption

**Chapter 4 – Retribution**

_"Hello!" Alicia shouted, her hands clutching onto the large medical kit slung across her shoulder. Slowly the young woman clambered across the barren landscape, a torch held tightly in her hand as she approached the near edge of a cliff. "I'm here to help!"_

_Glancing back over her shoulder, the young woman prayed that her fellow colleague had better luck than herself. In the distance, Central City glowed with a warm hue; its lights attracting visitors like bugs to a light trap; once you're in its streets, you never leave. Smirking at the mild thought, the young paramedic approached the cliff's edge._

_"Hello?" Alicia shouted again. Frowning the young woman pulled her radio off from her waist; her fingers fiddling with the button as she called her partner in crime._

_"Mark? I have nothing this end" Alicia stated into the radio, "No sign of anyone"_

_"The call said that it was a walker who has had a serious fall. Could be unconscious. Carry on looking" Mark replied curtly. Sighing Alicia clipped the radio back around her belt, her lips pressing tightly together as she blew a raspberry. Captain obvious much?_

_Reaching the very lip of the cliff, Alicia raised her torch as she began to peer over the edge. Initially, she could only make out the outlines of brushes and oddly shaped jagged rocks. But then something moved. Narrowing her eyes, the young woman spotted the silhouette of a young man; curled tightly into the foetal position on a small jagged ledge which stuck out of the cliff part way down._

_"HEY!" Alicia cried, "HANG ON TIGHT! I'M COMING!" Without thinking, the young woman slipped her feet over the edge, her hands clasping onto the sharp cliff edge as she slowly began to struggle her way downwards. Feeling the sharp pines of brush tickle her face, Alicia grimaced as she got a footing and moved her hands downwards slightly. Only as she did, her 'stable' footing gave way in a mess of dust and lose rock. _

_Alicia dropped suddenly, the sensation to her stomach rising into her mouth, caused nausea to flood her senses for the briefest of moments. Ramming her hands outwards, the young woman ran her palms down the front of the rock; the sharp jagged edges slicing her skin. Supressing the urge to scream, Alicia eventually gained a grip; her hands securing around a dead branch jammed within a small crevice. Due to the nature of the sudden stop, Alicia found herself lurching forwards into the cliff face once more; her hip taking the brunt of the impact._

_"UGH!" Alicia grunted. Although the pain was the least of her worries. During the knock, the young paramedic felt the radio unclip from her belt, leaving Alicia no choice but to watch as the radio plummeted past the ledge of which the patient was positioned, and instead headed towards the ground far below._

_Taking a deep breathe, Alicia slowed her breathing. "Probably should have used that before climbing." Struggling, the young woman secured another footing; ensuring that her body was stable before she moved one of her hands to secure the medical bag which was still slung across her shoulder. Peeping downwards, Alicia noted that she was only around six foot from the ledge. "Well" She mumbled, her eyes narrowing on the blood dripping down from her hands. "Here goes"._

_And with that she let go._

"NO!" Alicia sat bolt upwards, her clothes damp from sweat as her hair clung to her forehead tightly. Glancing around her bedroom, the young woman clutched her head tightly in pain. Who had thought that keeping the curtains open was a good idea? Falling back against her pillows, Alicia winced sharply as her temples began to twinge; it honestly felt as if someone was drilling into her skull.

More frustratingly, she had started to dream about that night again. "Brilliant" Alicia groaned, "First I have a hangover, and then I start having guilty flashbacks"

She paused, her hands slipping away from covering her eyes as she frowned deeply. Hangover? Wait…

Alicia looked around her room in confusion. She had been drinking, partying away in her misery and sorrow. All alone, until…someone turned up.

Her eyes widened. He had.

"Ugh" Alicia gritted her teeth, "It was just a drunken hallucination-" Slowly, she threw her covers off her body, her head rolling to the side as she went to glance towards her clock. "-there was no way… he… was…."

Alicia gawped at the neat and organised set up beside her. Positioned beside her bed, was a small bedside table. Usually the surface was covered in a mess of books and a haphazardly balanced clock. Only instead, before her now was a tall glass of a strange green substance; a small yellow sticky note clutching to its surface stating two simple words. 'Drink me!'

Additionally, beside the drink was a packet of 'Extra Strong Paracetamol'. Two of the brightly coloured tablets were already out of the box and balanced on a similarly overly bright yellow sticky note with the simple message of: 'Eat me!'

"Real…" Alicia finished, "He was here? Oh my god" The young woman sat upwards again, her hands tugging away at her hair as the knots refused to untangle. "All the stupid stuff I said… THE APARTMENT!"

Jumping to her feet, Alicia rushed to her bedroom door. Flinging it wide, she winced as the loud crashing sound resonated through her skull. Stepping forwards, Alicia stared in awe at the state of her apartment.

It was spotless.

Albeit, the kitchen side was clattered with the glasses and empty bottles of alcohol from the night, but still, the young woman didn't think she had ever seen her place so clean. The curtains were open, spilling bright sunlight across the room; softening its texture. Spotting a familiar brightly coloured note once more, Alicia wandered slowly across to her small kitchen, her bare feet cold as she padded across wooden floor.

Reaching the note, Alicia snatched it off one of the empty bottles of beer and stared at it intently. Her eyes struggling to focus as she tilted her head in amusement.

'I couldn't do all the cleaning now, Could I?'

Smiling, the young woman slowly wandered to the comfort of her sofa. Falling back into the cushions, Alicia pulled her small nearby laptop onto her lap, flipping it open slowly. Running her finger across the tracking pad, Alicia woke the machine up from sleep mode; instantly clicking on the Internet Explorer tab.

Running her fingers frantically across the keyboard in a clumsy fashion, Alicia searched the one of the only things she remembered from the night.

'Central City Robbery'

Unsurprisingly, the screen filled with recently posted news articles about the latest robbery to undergo within the city's streets. One particular posting had her interest immediately. Clicking further, the young woman opened up an amateur blog; its background tinted a crimson red as news postings and comments seemingly appeared by the minute regarding the night time robbery.

"'The Streak strikes again'" Alicia read aloud, narrowing her eyes inwardly, she continued, "After another slow response by the police, the city is once again thankful to the streak who continues to make Central a better place to live with every passing day. Although everyone may not believe that you are out there, I do, and so do the people reading this blog. Otherwise they wouldn't have searched it in the first place. On their behalf, and on the behalf of the city…Thank you."

Slowly Alicia allowed her eyes to drop to the tagline of the article. "Written by Anonymous. Hmm."

Alicia moved her cursor down onto the comments section, while the majority seemed to be agreeing with the writer's opinion, Alicia began to type her own. "Who is the Streak? Where did he come from? I need answers."

The young woman paused as she read over her typing, her eyes dropping as she shook her head slowly. It was then that she noticed the time. Gawking in surprise, Alicia cursed silently. It was already twelve in the afternoon, she was supposed to start her new job within the hour!

Deleting her comment, she proceeded to make a bookmark for the blogs page; saving it to her favourites.

Jumping to her feet, Alicia began to shuffle frantically across her apartment back towards her bedroom; where the mysterious tablets and drink awaited.

* * *

Tapping her pen slowly, Alicia stared enviously out of the glass doors of the Museum. She had been at work for around six hours; only another hour and a half remained. Dropping her head, the young woman took up her sunglasses between her hands, when she had walked into work she had to wear the biggest, darkest glasses she could find; the light proving too much for her eyes to handle. To say the least, her new employers weren't very impressed at her turning up to work hung-over and late.

For the beginning part of the afternoon, Alicia had been made to answer the phone and take ticket orders; even convincing certain customers into spending more money than they necessarily needed to. In all honesty, the work was exactly the same as what she used to do at the museum; boring and uneventful. The young woman sighed deeply, exactly how it should be.

Throwing her glasses back down against her desk, Alicia turned her attention to the computer screen. Of course once her eyes had finally adjusted to the bright lights of the real world, her mentor and superior had decided to move her onto reception and computer work. By now, the phone had ceased to ring and instead she was verifying ticket orders through their website and database.

As a result, for the past half an hour Alicia had resorted to what most human beings would do when bored out of their minds. She had taken up the art of 'day dreaming'. Making herself seem busy, the young woman stared off into the distance as her eyes glazed over and her mind wandered once more; her thoughts all gravitating back to the one anomaly in her life at the moment. The Streak… or The Flash as he had called himself.

How could someone move faster than a blinking eye? How could lightening seemingly spark off his limbs at the frantic movement they made. The questions continued to amount in her head endlessly, and although not knowing the answers was frustrating; Alicia was grateful for the distraction away from Andy.

"What are you day dreaming about?"

Alicia snapped from her reverie as she sat upright into attention. Across from her was the security guard she hadn't even been introduced to. Guarding the front entrance to the building, the young Asian man seemed to tap his foot in impatience; his eyes wandering the large glass panes which made up the front of the building.

"Day dreaming?" Alicia muttered as she followed his gaze, her eyes catching the silhouettes of commuters as they passed the outside of the museum.

The Asian man seemed to smirk slightly, "You keep grinning to yourself every few seconds, unless you're genuinely excited about someone purchasing a ticket- I would say your mind is elsewhere."

Dropping her head in embarrassment, Alicia allowed herself a moment to regain her composure before turning her attention back to the security guard; who had slowly returned to pacing in front of the glass doors to the entrance. Ever since he had begun his shift, the man had seemed tense; his shoulders hunched and stiff as he held his hand close to the gun hanging from his belt.

"Well, if I'm day dreaming you're worried about something" Alicia announced from her reception desk, her eyebrow twitching upwards in amusement. "Ever since you started work, all you have done is pace like that. What's got you so tense?"

The security guard seemed confused as he turned to face Alicia. "Where have you been for the past two days?" His tone incredulous, "Someone tried to rob the museum yesterday, they're after the Kahndaq Dynasty Diamond? You know-" He gestured towards one of the display posters which hung from the ceiling. Following his gesture, Alicia noted the image of the large diamond.

"I… I didn't…." Alicia frowned in frustration. "Well my mentor seemed to neglect to tell me that" She turned her attention back to the computer screen before her, during their conversation a further two tickets for the following morning had been purchased. Deciding to ignore her job for the moment, Alicia proceeded to minimise the database screen; instead pulling up a search engine to research the diamond.

"Khandaq is a middle eastern country, located on the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula" Alicia read aloud, narrowing her eyes inwards she frowned. "So what? Do they want it back? What's so special about it anyway?" Alicia mused as she began to scan the Wikipedia page for more information. "I mean apart from its value-"

Alicia never finished her sentence. Suddenly a shrill cry tore through the reception as a loud screech filled the room. Too scared to raise her eyes from the screen, Alicia hunched her shoulders slowly as she closed her eyes with anticipation. The faint thud of a body hitting the floor muffling her frantic breathing.

"Sometimes it's not just about the value"

She froze. She recognised that cold voice, its sharp tone sending images flashing across her mind from the day before, the day that she lost her friend. Ignoring the sudden twinge of guilt which tore through her at the thought of her fallen friend, Alicia raised her eyes slowly from the computer screen to stare at the entrance of the museum.

On the floor, the security guard was curled inwards. His body frozen in a similar fashion to Andy's. The whole scene just sparked bad memories for Alicia. Choosing to refrain her focus, Alicia's attention switched to the man before her. Snart.

Snart stood with a cocky grin pulled across his features, his hood drawn high over his head as he held his freeze gun upwards towards the ceiling, the cool mist radiating off of it from its recent use. Rising from her seat, Alicia swallowed the dry lump in her throat.

Marching forwards with determination, Snart swaggered his way towards the reception desk; his eyes never leaving Alicia's own. "Don't I know you-" The man gestured towards Alicia with his gun, the menacing blue glow causing her heart to flutter with anticipation. "You seem familiar"

Reaching the desk, Snart leant against the counter cockily. It was then that his whole demeanour switched, his eyes lighting up with recognition as he finished analysing Alicia's face. "Oh… you're the person who was with the human popsicle"

A feeling Alicia couldn't described surged through her veins in that moment. Her eyes narrowing inwards at the villain before her. His whole demeanour and presence sent a surge of anger through her mind, her hands clenching tightly into fists as she resisted the urge to swipe him across the face. She realised then what she wanted, most in the world; was retribution for her friend.

"You killed him" Alicia sneered with anger, her hands fumbling with the back of her chair as she stumbled away from her desk. Allowing her eyes to search the room in fear, she identified a nearby fire alarm positioned on the wall behind her. "YOU MURDERED HIM!"

"No" Snart smirked as he slowly wiped a hand across one of the lenses of his dark glasses. "He just wasn't saved fast enough, where is speedy now? He's not even here to save you. So much of a friend he is."

"Oh" Alicia shook her head, a faint smile on her face as she decided to fake stumbled backwards towards the alarm. "He isn't a friend, and he isn't the one at fault! You pulled the trigger! Why did you kill Andy anyway! HE DIDN'T DESERVE IT!"

"That isn't what it looked like to me" Snart commented as a matter of fact, "Speedy seemed awfully attached to you at the theatre. As for your friend, he was a risk. Now if you would excuse me-" Snart went to move past Alicia, only as he did she made a dash towards the fire alarm across from her. Reaching it successfully, she positioned her hand across the alarm. His body too close to hers for comfort.

"You're not going anywhere" Alicia smirked half-heartedly with determination, "Even if I die… he will still come, and he will stop you. You won't ever hurt anyone again."

"Such confidence in someone you have never met." Snart admired Alicia for a moment before raising his gun towards her face. "But, I have a feeling that you haven't got the guts to do it"

"One thing you should realise, Snart" Alicia murmured quietly as she screwed her hovering hand into a fist, "Is that I will be the most unpredictable person you have ever met. Especially when you kill my friends"

Bringing her fist downwards, Alicia punched through the glass of the fire alarm causing it to spring to live. Only as she did, Snart retaliated. Instead of firing his gun, the man turned and swung it around wide, its end catching Alicia hard across the temple. Stars exploded across the younger woman's eyes as she was sent tumbling towards the floor. Gasping in pain, Alicia clutched at her head as the dark spots slowly receded from her vision.

Around her the sprinklers had been activated and were emitting ice cold water over the reception floor. Curled tightly into a ball, Alicia clutched her head desperately as the loud sirens of the alarm pierced through the room, seemingly reverberating across the walls and windows. Turning her head upwards, the young woman noted the surprised faces through the glass of bystanders; many of the turning and running away from the museum to avoid altercation. She had done it, it had worked and he would be here.

With only a matter of time before the Streak arrived, Alicia slowly brought her hand away from her head; frowning inwardly at the sight of her own blood. Turning her attention elsewhere, Alicia began crawling forwards, reaching for her bag beneath the reception desk. She had already figured that Snart had left the reception with the diamond's exhibition in mind, bearing her enough time to prepare for his return. Reaching into her bag, Alicia wrapped her fingers around her phone. Rolling onto her side, the young woman proceeded to stuff the mobile into her pocket.

"You know-" Snart's voice announced his return, this time his hood was down exposing his face as he admired the large diamond clutched tightly within his hand. "You showed guts kid, that's the only reason you're still alive. So if you know what's good for you, you'll stay down."

Marching off, Snart headed towards the doors of the museum; his free hand drawing his hood upwards once again. Frowning, Alicia groaned at the pain in her head. On top of a hangover, a concussion wasn't making her feel any better than she did in the first place. More importantly however, Alicia noted the lack of the man in red. He hadn't shown up.

Feeling the water slip down her face, Alicia reached upwards for the reception desk; her hands tightening around the desk's edge as she hauled herself up off the floor and on to her unsteady feet. Stumbling on her feet, Alicia marched towards the door after Snart. He had already left, but if she picked up the pace she was sure she could still follow his disappearing silhouette through the streets. Stopping, Alicia paused beside the fallen officer; his gun was still attached around his waist as he remained collapsed at an odd angle.

Bending downwards slowly, Alicia pulled the gun away from the guard's belt; her hands fiddling with it slowly as she shook violently. Stuffing the weapon into the back of her trousers before covering it with her loose blouse, Alicia took a moment to feel sorry for the dead man before her. She didn't even know his name.

Turning back to the doors, Alicia caught sight of herself in the reflection. Her eyes were dark as her damp hair hung across her face in a menacing way, down the side of her face blood mixed with water as it slipped past her neck and began to stain the hem of her blouse. Even though the Streak hadn't shown up, she wasn't about to let Snart get away with hurting people again.

Marching forwards with a small stumble, Alicia submerged herself through the doors and into the bustling crowd outside. Deep down she knew she should be freezing, but the adrenaline which was pumping through her veins proved to be enough to keep her mind off the minor things which bothered her. Spotting Snart's retreating body in the distance, Alicia began to pursue him; all the way to Centrals largest train station.


	5. Chapter 5 - Not Indestructible

**Chapter 5- Not Indestructible**

Alicia kept her head low as she pushed her way subtly through the busy crowds of the train station. Ignoring the wayward glances sent her way by late night commuters, the young woman tried in vain to shield her face away. The cold metal of the gun clinging to her lower back as it remained concealed beneath her clothes.

She had followed Snart through the streets easily enough, snaking her way in and out of passerbys to seem as inconspicuous as possible. Alicia had even stopped to have a mental debate with herself about continuing on her rampage, she was in a destructive mood meaning it was clouding her judgement severely. Although the blood had stopped dripping down her face, the wound to her head continued to ache nonstop, further aggravating her mood. Nonetheless the young woman had continued on with a determination that even she didn't know she possessed.

Alicia now found herself wandering across a busy platform, trains either side of her as people rushed to either get on them or off them. Slipping between two businessmen the young woman sighed in frustration, she had lost Snart as soon as they had entered the building. Spinning in a circle, Alicia tried in vain to identify any clue as to where the Freezing man had gone.

'Huh' Alicia mused, 'Freezing man'

"SNART!"

Spinning to the sound of a familiar voice, Alicia immediately identified Detective West; his hands moving to draw his gun. However, before he could remove his weapon from its dark leather holster, a loud screeching rang through the air. Out of seemingly nowhere, the detective's partner suddenly appeared, dashing across the platform with an ungodly speed; knocking Joe to the ground and safely away from freezing clutches of a stray cold ray.

Following its trajectory, Alicia smirked inwardly as a crowd of panicked bystanders sprawled away from Snart. With a smug smile, the criminal quickly dashed down towards the end of the platform with ease; the sea of commuters parting with a single wave of his gun. Feeling her feet shake with adrenaline, Alicia followed suit her hands extended outwards to shove the fleeing pedestrians away from her path and line of sight.

Faintly, Alicia noted Snart had jumped onto a train on the right hand side of the platform. With a sharp whistle, the train signalled for its doors to close; causing the remainder of people on the platform to rush on to the nearby carriages. Realising that she would never make the same carriage Snart had boarded in time, the young woman dashed sharply to the right practically throwing herself through one of the nearby doors to the carriage.

Momentarily forgetting that Gravity actually exists, Alicia grunted in pain as she crashed to metallic floor of the carriage. Pressing her hands beneath her torso, the young woman flipped onto her back; her eyes narrowing as the door remained open for a few seconds longer before closing.

"Well that was over dramatic" Alicia commented to herself.

Reaching for a nearby handle, the young woman pried herself upwards and off the floor. Brushing down her already stained and torn clothes, the young woman turned her attention back to perusing Snart. It was then that she noticed the audience she had gained from her stunt like performance. On a nearby seat, a young man seemed to raise an eyebrow inquisitively. Shrugging the whole situation off, Alicia stumbled forwards; her hands clasping onto the backs of nearby seats as she made her way towards the front of the train.

Sudden movements and jolts caused by the train's rapidly increasing speed caused Alicia to curse silently, her head was already spinning as it was and she didn't need to be more unbalanced and disorientated. Feeling her stomach ache from the blow she suffered from falling into the carriage, the young woman allowed herself a moment to recover, her hands pressed against the door to the next carriage as she took a deep reassuring breathe.

Opening the cabin door, Alicia squeezed through into the next carriage; the reaction to her entrance similar to that of the first one. Ignoring the stares directed her way, the young woman identified her reflection in passing a window. Her hair was still slightly damp, although it had dried into a long mess of Auburn curls. The side of her face was tinged a slight red; obviously from where her blood from the blow on her temple had mixed with the water from the sprinklers in the museum.

Pushing onwards, Alicia tried to catch a glimpse of Snart through the window of the next carriage door. Freezing, time seemed to slow for Alicia as she spotted his familiar blue hood. Although, that wasn't what really captivated her attention, for Snart seemed to have his back turned to her and instead was talking to the impossible man. Stumbling forwards, Alicia stared in awe as the man in red stood tall before Snart, his hands screwed into tight fists.

"Excuse me, you need to sit down" A man stated as he stood before Alicia. Taking in the appearance of the new character before her, the young woman frowned. He was a young man, most probably a student. He didn't mean any trouble.

"No I don't" Alicia muttered quietly. Shuffling forwards, Alicia tried to move forwards and past her one man blockade. However, the young woman was genuinely surprised to feel his arms clamp around her shoulders and push her backwards once more.

"You should, you don't look too well Ma'am. Here take my seat." The young man gestured to the side, his hands splayed outwards towards his seat beside a young toddler; who smiled a toothless grin in response.

Glancing past the man waywardly, Alicia tried in vain to peer once more into the next carriage. Through the brief glimpses she received, it was clear to depict that with every passing second the standoff was becoming tenser and more volatile. Alicia sighed in utter frustration.

"Move" She stated simply, her tone a commanding one.

"You should-"

Sick of the strangers concern, Alicia drowned out his 'caring monologue' from her mind. Stretching her arm outwards, she proceeded to reach behind her back slowly; her hand slipping under her shirt and encircling the handle of the gun concealed there. Pausing for a moment, she considered the psychological impact her actions may cause on those around her, after all she had experienced the same heart stopping terror when Snart's gun had been pointed in her own direction. But, Alicia reasoned, her motives were good and she had no intention of harming a single hair on any persons head.

"I'm sorry" Alicia apologised, pulling the gun outwards she pointed it towards the stranger. Its sight lined perfectly with his head. "Please… move"

'If words never work then carry a gun' Alicia mused, for the young man couldn't have moved any quicker from her path. Alicia smiled thankfully towards the terrified young man as she continued down the carriage; ignoring the screams and muffle cries as she passed. Surely she didn't look that terrifying?

Reaching the cabin door, Alicia thought little of what her next plan was. The young man had wasted her time, and from what she could see, Snart appeared to be seconds away from pulling the trigger on his cold gun. So with her lack of plan, Alicia threw herself into the next carriage regardless.

Quietly closing the cabin door behind her, Alicia noted that both Snart and 'The Streak' appeared to be so engrossed in their standoff that neither of them had noted her entrance. Snart's gun remained pointed slightly too close to the impossible man than she liked it to be. Raising her own gun towards the back of Snart's head, Alicia formulated the most quirky, humorous and badass line she could.

"Freeze"

Or rather corny.

The effect was instant. Glancing across the man in red appeared shocked and confused, before his face began to shake frantically blurring his features into an unidentifiable state. Snart meanwhile simply tilted his head to the side, his body ridged as he took in the new change in situation.

"Shouldn't that be what I say?" Snart mused, his cold gun turning in his hands slowly as he evaluated its appearance.

"You can keep it if you like" Alicia muttered back, stepping closer towards the centre of the carriage, the young woman noted the petrified faces of those around her; to her left sat one particular child, unlike those around him, his eyes seemed to be full of awe and wonder, hiding the fear which must have been coursing through his veins. Smiling reassuringly, Alicia turned her attention back to Snart. "It's not very original though."

"You're the girl from the museum again." Snart noted, an aggravated tone to his voice. "You just won't stay down will you?"

"Leave her alone" The impossible man commanded; his voice echoing around the carriages walls as it vibrated unnaturally.

"And you-" Snart turned back to face the man in red, his eyes alight with excitement. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"You should have picked something faster than a train if you wanted to get away" The Streak stated with confidence, his body tensing as he stood tall and defiant before the 'freezing man'.

Snart seemed to laugh at the comment.

"I've seen your weakness, first at the armoured car, the theatre-" Alicia bit the inside of her lip as her head dipped slightly, her eyes watering. She couldn't afford to think of Andy now, not when she was heavily relying on the adrenaline and anger which pumped through her bloodstream. Tuning away from her reverie, Snart continued. "-Now here. You see while you're busy saving everyone, I'll be saving myself"

"No you won't" Alicia moved forwards shakily, her hand trembling as she pressed the cold metal of the gun against Snart's back; its end skimming lightly across the blue winters coat.

However, instead of freezing solidly, Snart simply spun on his heal abruptly, his hands encircling her own as he hovered his finger over the trigger of the weapon. Alicia stared wide eyed at her terrified expression reflected across Snart's black goggles.

Smiling, Snart seemed to caress her hand before pushing down on the trigger abruptly and fearlessly. Alicia flinched in anticipation of the loud bang of a bullet being released, but when nothing happened, Alicia found herself cursing her idiocy. Snart sighed as he pulled the gun away from her lax hands, and threw it to the ground worthlessly.

"Didn't you bother to check to see if it worked?" Snart questioned, his tone one of amusement.

"This isn't what happens in NCIS" Alicia mused half-heartedly as she glanced across to the gun on the ground.

"Leave her alone, Snart" The Streak stated, his eyes wide as he glanced between the gun and Alicia.

Ignoring the man in reds interjection, Snart continued to study Alicia closely.

"This is the guards gun right?" He gestured across to the fallen weapon, "Ice is water. Water melts. When gunpowder gets wet… it doesn't fire." Snart stated condescendingly, his tone sharp as he spoke in short sentences as if he was talking to a child.

Guilty as charged, Alicia stepped away from Snart, her eyes narrowed as he turned back to the Streak, his gun aimed towards the ground.

"Right… Where were we?"

With a shrill burst of sound, Snart froze the floor in a bright flash of light, the ice melting through the metal and causing the whole train to shake as it began to derail. Clasping onto a nearby chair with strength, Alicia watched as Snart wandered towards the side door; pressing the emergency exit with ease.

"You won't get away, Snart" The Streak vowed as he stared across the room, his eyes lightning fast as he took in the growing dire situation.

"Good luck with that" The freezing man smirked.

And with one jump he was gone.

In the brief moment before the train derailed, Alicia turned back to the man in red; her face one of hope as she watched him evaluate the surroundings. Eventually his own eyes fell back onto her own, he no longer shook his head to distort his features, however the lack of good lighting made it difficult to distinguish them anyway.

Like some form of horror movie, the lights on the train flickered with every abrupt shake, the screams of passengers louder than the screeching of the metal below them. People were tossed side to side as they failed to hold on tightly against the violent shakes. Ignoring the chaos surrounding her, Alicia remained focused on The Streak. Now was the time to be fast enough, faster than he was when he tried to save Andy.

"You got this" Alicia murmured more to herself than the streak, however with a small nod of his head, the young woman was left wondering whether as well as super speed, was the impossible man blessed with super hearing aswell.

The derail was sudden. The carriage twisted violently and not being in a chair, Alicia found herself being thrown into the air sharply and towards one of the nearby windows. Around her the screams which had filled the air fell silent, as panic filled her surroundings like electricity. People thrown haphazardly like they were ragdolls and life's seemingly meaningless.

Feeling an impact against her shoulder caused her to scream, Alicia was surprised when seconds later she was on the floor outside; some way away from the unfolding terror. Alicia stared in awe as the train tumbled forwards, the carriage she had been on almost vertically upwards in the air. Metal on metal screeched through the air, as sparks splashed across the ground threatening to set fire to the dried leaves in their wake. Dashing between the carriages and the outside, the lightning streak went about saving peoples life's.

Feeling her shoulder cry at the slightest movement, Alicia frowned to note that it had become dislocated somehow during the crash. Although, the young woman was grateful that her shoulder being dislocated was the only problem.

In a flash of yellow another bystander was deposited beside Alicia, However unlike the others the woman appeared to be unconscious, her arm bent at an odd angle as blood began to seep from a wound on her chest. Alicia began to panic as her breathing rapidly increased. She needed to help the woman, but she had sworn never to touch medicine again, especially after that day.

Shaking her head away from the selfish thoughts which filled her mind, Alicia leaned closer; her good arm reaching across and lightly pressing around the wound in the centre of her chest. Frowning, Alicia supressed a gag as something seemed to move inside of her. Peering closer, Alicia spotted a large shard of glass; its edges gleaming maliciously in the limited light.

Removing the pressure from her patient's chest, Alicia reached for her phone in her pocket instead. Clasping tightly to its cool surface, the young woman frowned as she noted the front of the screen had been smashed to pieces. Regardless, Alicia pressed down hard against the power button; light filled her face as she turned the shattered screen towards the wound. Although the phone was useless for calling anyone, it was still good enough light for her to evaluate what was going on.

"Shit" Alicia cursed silently. The amount of blood coming from the woman's abdomen suggest the worst. The glass had most likely hit an organ or blood vessel, meaning that time was at the essence. Her arm meanwhile was definitely broken, sitting at an odd angle. Balancing her phone on the ground, Alicia spotted a nearby scrap of wood, pulling it close she began to line it up with the woman's arm.

"Now something to secure it" Alicia noted. Using a spare hair tie secured around her wrist, the young woman pried it off before slipping it over the wood and her patients arm. Deciding that the brace was still too weak, Alicia wasted no time in removing her wet blouse. Shivering in the cold air, Alicia thanked the gods that she had decided to wear a vest. Shakily, her hands tore up the fabric before securing the wood to the woman's arm with its scraps.

Crawling forwards, Alicia bit her lip tightly as her shoulder flared in agony. Collapsing next to the woman's head, Alicia manoeuvred her immobile arm to the side as she retrieved her phone from the ground; using its white light to view her patients face closer.

The lady appeared to be in her thirty's and was extremely pale, a cold sweat had formed over her forehead. Clasping the phone between her teeth, Alicia leaned forwards prying her patient's eyes open to test their reaction. Dread sunk into Alicia as she leaned back from the woman, her eyes were slow at dilating.

Turning back to the train wreckage, the young woman left her phone screen beside the woman; the light a signal for where she was. Using one hand, Alicia pushed herself off the ground; her legs wobbling as she stumbled towards one of the carriages. Where had the impossible man gone?

"Hello!" Alicia cried, although her voice seemed to waiver.

Treading carefully over the shattered glass which layered the ground, Alicia avoided the open flames which emitted from the carriages. Ducking, the young woman avoided a close explosion of sparks. Scared to her bones, Alicia rounded the carriage freezing in her tracks as she spotted the impossible man; collapsed to the ground and at the mercy of Snart. However, behind Snart appeared to be a small group; three to be precise, huddled closely together while one of the members stood at the front clasping a large glowing object.

"You win this time, kid" Snart sighed as he lowered his gun. Turning, the villain began to walk away with a slight swagger, not even blinking as he passed the man with the large contraption. Alicia screwed her one fist tightly closed, her nails nipping her skin as she supressed the urge to scream in rage. He was being allowed to leave.

"Leave the diamond" One of the members of the group commanded. Snart stopped, his head tilting to the side in amusement.

"Don't push it"

And with that, he walked off. Alicia sighed as she turned her attention back to the man in red, she didn't want Snart to escape; but the impossible man wouldn't be huddled on the floor in pain if he could help himself. Stepping closer, her presence seemed to catch the group's attention, causing them to freeze and lower their voices into hushed whispers as they approached the man in red.

"Hello?" Alicia asked, the group acknowledged her with curt nods. Dropping the large glowing contraption to the ground, a young man stepped forwards; his hand extending outwards and helping the impossible man to his feet.

Turning, the man in red raised his head; the bright light from the fires behind him causing him to appear to be a walking silhouette. "I need some help."

He tilted his head inquisitively, taking in the odd shape of her shoulder. Noting his gaze, Alicia shook her head frowning as she stumbled slightly from the movement. Stepping forwards, the man in red went to move towards her before Alicia raised her good hand sharply. "No, not me."

"What' wrong?" A lady asked stepping forwards, she appeared to be tall and slim; her skin a light ivory which contrasted against her dark hair in the limited light. Her arms were wrapped tightly across her body, pulling her coat closer around her. "I'm a doctor"

"There's a lady" Alicia began, her eyes switching away from the woman before settling on the impossible man, "She doesn't need a doctor, she needs a surgeon… now! You need to get her to a hospital, and quick!"

"Where" The man in red questioned, his voice reverberating through the air. Alicia nodded, gesturing with her good arm for him to follow her around the corner. With shaky legs, Alicia hobbled as quickly as she could across the uneven ground. Her skin prickled with goosebumps from both the freezing temperatures and the sensation of being watched. Feeling the impossible man's presence beside her, Alicia smiled slightly as they made their approach towards the light she had left beside her patient.

Falling to the ground beside the woman's unmoving body, Alicia used her only arm to check her patient's pulse. It was still there, and despite how weak and threaded it appeared to be, Alicia found herself excited. She was still alive.

"There's a glass shard embedded in her abdomen, I suspect it may have potentially clipped her inferior mesenteric artery" Alicia commented. Turning her head to the side, she noted the surprised look in the impossible man's light green eyes; their colour shining in the flickering light.

"The amount of blood would suggest that." Alicia suppressed a startled scream as she turned to face the self-acclaimed doctor. Glancing around the woman, Alicia noted that the other two members of the group had disappeared from sight. At the sound of shuffling feet, Alicia pulled herself from her reverie as she watched the doctor bend down next to the arm; her fingers reaching outwards to examine her homemade splint. "You did this?"

"Broken arm" Alicia stated simply. Noting the odd looks she received, the young woman quickly rolled her eyes. The last thing she needed was more people knowing her past. "Right? I mean I'm guessing it is, it looks pretty odd. The splint is something I saw someone do on the Night Shift." She lied.

Relieved at the eye roll the doctor produced, Alicia allowed herself to relax a little. Climbing to her feet, Alicia stepped away from her patient as the man in red slowly cradled her off the ground and into his arms. Turning to face the doctor, his eyes flashed a light with lightening sparks. Reaching a hand to his ear, the Streak pressed against one of the golden lightning bolts.

"Cis-" He stopped, his eyes glancing briefly across to Alicia. "Where's the nearest Hospital?"

Nodding his head slowly in response to an inaudible answer to his question, the man in red turned back to the doctor.

"I'll be back in two seconds" The Streak stated, before disappearing with a gust of wind.

Slumping, Alicia sighed in relief. Although, her moment of utter serenity did not last at all. Slowly, the pain in her shoulder began to return with vengeance; her arms and legs shaking as her surroundings began to spin slowly. Nausea rose in her chest, as the pounding headache which had barely plagued her mind began to rear its ugly head once more. Noting her slow change in demeanour, the doctor seemed to tilt her head curiously.

"You don't look too good" She commented, her eyes locking onto Alicia's shoulder once more. Gently supporting her arm, Alicia gritted her teeth sharply.

"I need you to reset my shoulder" Alicia groaned, "I mean, I am like one hundred percent sure now that it's dislocated."

The young woman moved closer, her cold hands resting in the correct positons on Alicia arm. Slowly, her eyes examined the joint with scrutiny, her head shaking in agreement. "Yep, as dislocated as it can be. Ready?"

Alicia felt her eyes water with anticipation, turning to meet the doctor's own gaze, Alicia nodded with confidence. "So… how do you know the impossible man?" With the doctor distracted, Alicia took in the woman's appearance carefully. Below her coat she appeared to be wearing what could be considered office wear, what seemed to be a badge was clipped to her blouse pocket. Frowning, Alicia struggled to read it. She could just about make out the word 'Abs'. Suddenly, a sharp and painful prod to her arm drew her attention back to the doctor who carried on preparing her shoulder unaware.

The doctor frowned as she tilted her head to the side, her long hair blowing to the side as a cold autumn breeze blew across the open landscape. Biting her lip lightly, the young woman seemed to finally find her answer to Alicia's question. "Let's focus on resetting your arm first. Okay? One, Two-"

With a sharp flick and pull, the young doctor pushed Alicia's shoulder back into its socket. A loud crunch filling the air as she did. Alicia felt her cheeks blush a deep red as a scream tore through her dry throat, spinning away from the doctor, Alicia began to gag as she clasped her throbbing arm tightly. All at once her body had decided enough was enough, with the lack of adrenalin pumping through her veins, Alicia collapsed to her knee's; her eyes struggling to focus on her surroundings.

In the distance should could have sworn she could see a yellow lightning coursing towards them.

Whether or not it actually reached her in time, was something should would never know. As once again; she fell into the open arms of oblivion.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Light

**Chapter 6 – The Light**

_"Hey listen to me" Alicia raised her voice, her hands pressed either side of the walkers face as she tried to elicit any form of response. After falling the short distance to the ledge, she had been surprised that the fall had done little damage; albeit her knees ached with a burning sensation._

_Receiving no response what so ever, she placed her fingers across his wrist; her eyes narrowed as she frantically searched for a pulse. Frowning, the young woman then leant close to the man's mouth, her ear resting millimetres above it as she listened out for his breath. However there was nothing, not even the soft breeze which blew through Central City caressed her cheek._

_"No...No…NO!" Alicia turned to her medical bag; her hands shaking with adrenalin as she began pulling away at the buckle, the metal clicking as she haphazardly threw it open and began rifling through her supplies. Throwing aside a small first aid kit; which rested on top of the bags contents, Alicia pulled out the portable defibrillator unit that all paramedics were now required to have with them at all times. Turning back to the mangled body of the walker, Alicia began to tear away his shirt._

_"Listen this thing only has enough charge for three shocks." Alicia mumbled to the prone body of the walker. _

_Slowly, the young woman began to fix the electrode gel conductors to his chest; one either side of his heart. Stepping backwards she punched the button on the defibrillator to charge; its whining noise filling the air as the lights which covered it flashed with life. _

_"So don't try to be funny… just wake up after the first shock. Okay?" Alicia finished, her eyes locked on the man's face before her. He seemed so young, too young to be in the middle of nowhere fighting for his life. She hadn't had enough time to fully look his wounds and injuries over, although the blood which tricked down the side of his face surely wasn't a good sign at all._

_Suddenly however, in the distance a large explosion rocketed from the centre of Central City, its light highlighting the outline of the tall skyscrapers which reached for the sky. Transfixed, the young paramedic watched in awe as an explosion of light and energy spiralled into the atmosphere, a bubble expanding outwards from the blast as it merged with everything in its wake. The clouds began to bubble menacingly, a hard rain pouring down around them as everything began to appear to glow a faint golden colour._

_"What the-"_

_With a harsh beep, the defibrillator signalled that it had finished its charge. Grabbing the paddles tightly within her clammy hands, Alicia glanced between the expanding explosion and the body before her. Without hesitation, she pressed the paddles against the electrodes, her fingers applying pressure to the triggers as it released a high voltage of energy into the man's chest. Coincidentally, the moment she shocked her patient was the moment the bubble of energy encased their position on the cliff's face. Feeling the light wrap around her being and whip through her hair, Alicia gasped as the shock from the defibrillator rebounded backwards; through her arms and to her own chest. Alicia was throw backwards against the sheer wall of the cliff; the muscles in her chest constricting as her breath failed her. Eyes wide, Alicia felt tears well as she took in the bright light which encased her vision entirely; in many ways it was 'shockingly' beautiful. _

_However as soon as it had arrived, the energy dissipated along with the force which had kept the young paramedic pressed against the cliff face. Alicia gasped as air rushed into her lungs, her eyes hazy as she slowly noted that she was no longer on the platform. With the force keeping her safe gone, gravity slowly clasped its grasp around her body as she was sent tumbling to her death at the bottom of the cliff. The drop taking much longer than she ever imagined._

A soft and frantic beeping filled the air as Alicia threw her eyes open. Her voice failing to scream as it gurgled in response. Frowning, Alicia reached a hand up to her throat in annoyance. It was incredibly dry and sore. The second thing that she noted was that a hard substance was clinging to her eyelashes. Pulling away from her throat, Alicia began to rub away the sleet which had settled there.

Taking a deep breath, Alicia almost flinched as the stench of disinfectant filled her nostrils, she could almost taste it on the back of her tongue. With watery eyes, the young woman tried in vain to clear her blurred vision. From what she could see and smell, Alicia knew that she was in a hospital ward, her eyes distinguishing silhouettes of similarly disorientated patients.

It was then that she noticed the presence of two faces.

"Nrgh?" Alicia groaned, her throat too sore to speak properly. Turning her attention to the closest figure, Alicia focused in on the CSI she had met earlier in the week. "Who are you again?"

"Barry." He stated with a small smile. Slowly the young man moved closer to the side of Alicia's bed. "We came to ask you some questions, about the train?"

"Oh" Alicia mumbled, her voice croaky. Like water, memories suddenly flooded back to her as if her brain was Niagara Falls. "That train."

"You were at the scene, correct?" The second man questioned as he stepped closer. Alicia nodded mutely as she recognised the familiar face of Detective West.

"Well, I can't really lie can I? I mean I'm lying in a hospital bed with the scars to prove it" Alicia giggled nervously. Glancing around the room, the young woman spotted a small drip plugged into her arm; the clear liquid filtering into her veins. She could feel her head swim with an odd numbness sensation, the drugs were working well.

"That's probably best" Barry smirked, his eyes alight. Detective West on the other hand simply frowned with caution, his eyes narrowing as he slowly fiddled with the leather notepad in his hands.

The detective opened his mouth to continue, when suddenly his radio blurred to life with static; a faint voice on the other side. Glancing between Barry and Alicia, Joe passed the small notepad across to the CSI. "Excuse me, I need to respond to this, Barry you can handle this right?"

"No problem, Joe" Barry nodded, his hands encasing the notepad and depositing it on the side of Alicia's bed. Nodding, Joe turned and left the room; his eyes latched onto the radio as he began to fiddle with its frequency.

Alicia turned to Barry slowly, his eyes seemed to be watching her closely; as if evaluating her every move.

"Are you okay?" Alicia asked with caution, a sense of dread was beginning to settle in her stomach, especially after the way Detective West had glared at her.

Barry seemed to consider her question carefully before shaking his head. "There are reports that you threatened a man with a gun." He sighed, "I need to take samples from your hand to see if there is any gunpowder residue, as well as take your fingerprints for analysis." Slowly, the CSI pulled free a swab and evidence bag from his pockets.

Dread quickly turned into panic as Alicia eyed the swab dangerously. Would her simply holding the gun have deposited material on to her hands? She didn't have a clue. All that she did know, was that her fingerprints would definitely be on the gun still.

"You would have had to have fired the gun for the residue to be present." Barry stated as if he has read her mind. "Some of the victims said they heard a gunshot. Alicia, what did you do?"

"I-" She paused, her eyes wide as she felt like a trapped dear in the headlights. She knew she should have got around the student another way, who would have thought the consequences of threatening someone with a gun would be so bad?

'Oh' Alicia mused to herself, 'This is why I wouldn't make a good hero'

Barry raised his eyebrows as he waited for a response. Feeling her emotions bubbling too close to the surface, Alicia had little resistance as with a flurry of words, it all tumbled out.

"Of course I had a gun, Barry! I had to try and stop Snart! But you know what? What a fat load of good the gun did anyway! It wouldn't shoot. So how people heard a gunshot is beyond me! Maybe it was the lunatic with a cold gun! The only gun that seemed to fricking work! God… I should have thrown the stupid… broken thing as his head, knock them stupid ass goggles of his face! But I didn't! Because…." Alicia paused, her cheeks flaring red as she slowly moved her eyes back across to the IV attached to her hand. "I'm talking too much."

"That would be the drugs." Barry smirked, his eyes sad. Alicia felt relief wash over her at the simple sign of emotion. "I'm surprised it isn't me doing the rambling."

"Am I in trouble now?" Alicia questioned, her eyes wide. Perhaps the innocent bystander trick would pull through.

"Carrying a gun like you did is against the law. You also threatened a kid! In the last similar case, the guy got three years jail time and a fine!" Barry commented, his eyes narrowed inwards.

"But what if it was for a good cause?" Alicia asked shyly, "He was in my way."

Barry shook his head slowly, "Still against the law."

"Is it still against the law if the gun didn't work?" The young woman questioned seriously, her heart hammering in her chest. The panic had definitely returned.

"No matter the excuse it is still against the law, Alicia, you could face time for this. Albeit minimal but still!" Barry whispered, his head glancing across to the doorway. Sighing, the young man shook his head as he turned back to face Alicia. "Why were you at the train station anyway? How did you get the gun?"

"Snart 'visited' the museum, which happens to be where I work now. He killed the guard and robbed the diamond. But then you already knew that." Alicia murmured dejectedly.

"You never mentioned that you worked at the museum!"

"It was my first day. Not that any of it matters now. I went in hungover, really badly hungover. Then I abandoned work to chase after a mad man and now I'm in trouble with the police. I'm sixty percent sure I am probably fired by now" Alicia smiled slightly as she slowly rolled her shoulders, her eyes narrowing as a sharp pain rocketed across her back.

"Only sixty percent?" Barry laughed half-heartedly as he shook his head, "I am sure it will be fine, you seem like a good person Alicia. Don't knock it, I mean, I should have been fired a million times by now. If Joe never stuck up for me, then I wouldn't be where I am now."

"Really? It's nice to have someone close like that." Alicia felt her eyes begin to sting with tears. "Andy used to cover for me, back when I worked at the theatre." The young woman smiled faintly at the thought of her time at the theatre. Andy used to always lie to the boss when it came to a Friday, covering for Alicia to either finish work an hour early, or run out to grab them both a Chinese.

"You miss him a lot, don't you?" Barry asked, his question cutting through her reverie.

"Of course I do." Alicia turned to Barry, her eyes lost in his sea of green. "When I saw Snart at the museum… I got so angry, I saw red and I had to track him down. I had to get retribution. It wasn't just for Andy though, someone told me that I wasn't to blame for Andy's death and that if I wanted to make a difference, next time I can make sure I am ready. I realised if I didn't try to stop Snart like I did, then I would be responsible for all the other deaths he could cause."

Barry seemed to consider her words for a few moments, slowly the CSI reached forwards; his hands encircling Alicia's as he flipped them upright and began to run the swab across her palm. "Have you seen Andy's family yet?"

Alicia frowned at the sudden change in topic, her hands twitching as the cold swab tickled her palms. "No, not yet."

"Why not?" Barry retaliated, slowly the CSI stopped swabbing Alicia's hands; pushing the swab stick into a small sterile evidence bag. Gesturing for Alicia to keep her hands open, Barry proceeded to take her fingerprints.

"Because, I'm not strong enough." Alicia muttered regretfully, her eyes watching Barry carefully as he slowly took carbon copies of her prints.

The CSI smiled faintly as he shook his head, "You say this after you have just stood down your friend's killer with nothing but a broken gun?"

Alicia nodded minutely as Barry pulled away from her hands, his head lowered as he packed the newly collected evidence away into his bag which was positioned on the visitor's armchair. Alicia watched as the young man finished carefully packing the evidence bag, before opening up a small zipped side pocket and pulling free a white envelope.

"Here" Barry stated as he turned to face Alicia, his hand extended outwards towards her. "Andy's wife gave Joe the dates for the funeral. I'm assuming that you don't realise that it's actually tomorrow morning."

"Oh." Alicia stated simply as she accepted the white envelope. Slowly the young woman played with its edges, her heart hammering in her chest as guilt washed over her being. "That's so soon."

"You're going to go right?" Barry tilted his head inquisitively as Alicia looked over the envelope closely. It was a pure white paper, made of the highest material; on the front sprawled in Monica's identifiable writing was her name.

"I don't-"

"Alicia, not going would be the worst thing you ever do. Trust me. I know what it's like to lose someone close. Imagine it as a final goodbye." Barry reasoned, his own eyes slightly watery as he watched the young woman closely. Alicia met his gaze carefully, his eyes seemed to carry unimaginable loss and hurt; a broiling determination fluttering through them with every breath he took.

"Promise me you'll go." Barry tagged on the end, his feet shuffling away from the bed as he slowly looped the handle of his bag across his shoulder.

"Okay" Alicia smiled, her hands clutching the small white envelope tightly as she held it close to her chest. "I'll go"

"Good." Barry smirked with a determined grin. Pulling out a pen from his pocket, Barry quickly began to scribble some notes down into the notepad, his eyebrows pulled together tightly as he quickly finished off his frantic writing.

"So? What's the verdict partner?" Joe questioned as he walked back into the room. Barry shrugged as he threw the notepad across to Joe, the detectives eyes beginning to analyse whatever the CSI had just sprawled across the page.

Barry turned back to stare at Alicia, his eyes baring into hers. "That was Miss Norris's alibi, seems to check out considering her dislocated shoulder; the bruising pattern and its severity suggest that. I've also swabbed her hands and taken fingerprints, the only way she could be charged now is whether the results show that there is any gunpowder residue or finding the gun itself."

"Okay then." Joe nodded as he looked up and away from the notepad. Slowly he slipped the small book into his jacket. "Miss Norris you haven't been charged as of yet, but providing the evidence Barry collected comes back positive and the gun is located then you will be arrested. As there is no substantial evidence as of this moment, you are a free to go. We are done here, let's go Bear"

Detective West turned abruptly and headed towards the door, his head casted towards the ground as he submerged himself into the busy hallway. Alicia turned her attention back to Barry, who had also begun to make a move towards the door.

"Barry!" Alicia called across the room, turning the CSI smiled brightly as he raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Thank-you for what you did. I barely know you but I feel as if I owe you everything, I don't even know your second name?"

"What so you can stalk me? Because I mean, if that's what you are, then don't- because that would be awkward and also against-"The CSI seemed to fumble with his words as he looked about the room.

"No. Barry I am not a stalker." Alicia smirked, her hands releasing the white envelope as he turned and placed it on her side table. Feeling her head swim with nausea, the young woman fought off the urge to yawn.

"Allen, Barry Allen" Barry answered, his head inclining.

"Norris. But you already knew that" Alicia quipped back, her eyelids heavy from the day's activities.

Barry nodded slowly as he began to walk backwards, "Goodbye Alicia."

"Bye Barry."

Turning, Barry ran out of the ward and into the hallway, his hands clutching his bag as he fought to stop it from bashing against his legs as he ran. Smiling Alicia rested back against the pillows of her hospital bed once more. Her mind was buzzing with thoughts, the young man had covered for her despite her admitting the truth. It was strange for a complete and utter stranger to have so much confidence in her, but it wasn't something she wasn't grateful for.

A sudden buzzing rang through the room causing the young woman to frown, the ringtone sounded familiar. Turning to the source of the noise, Alicia pulled open the top draw of her side table; her fingers lingering on the handle as her eyes widened at what was inside. Positioned carefully in the centre of the draw was her mobile phone, its screen completely fixed. Reaching forwards, Alicia carefully shut the draw before leaning back with her phone clasped tightly within her grasp, rubbing her thumb slowly across the screen, Alicia smiled as it immediately flashed alight.

Unlocking her screen with a simple flick of her finger, Alicia was surprised to find that a pre-organised alarm was going off constantly. Opening the notification without hesitation, the young woman put the alarm on snooze as she read the note which was attached to it, she couldn't hold back the goofy smile which filled her face.

_Alarm Title: Hero._

_Note: Alicia Norris, You are a mystery. But without your help I wouldn't have been able to save everyone on that train today. The woman you treated survived the bleeding, something which wouldn't have happened if you hadn't of been there. Andy would have been proud. You should be to._

Although no-one had signed the message off, Alicia didn't need an autograph to know who had written it. Pressing the phone close against her chest, Alicia allowed her eyes to begin to flutter closed; the same goofy smile plastered across her face. The world had seemed so dark after Andy died, but over the past day or two, Alicia had begun to see a light; especially now she had saved a life. Perhaps she would be fine after all. But first, she needed to get her sleep, especially if she had a funeral to go to.


	7. Chapter 7 - An Overdue Goodbye

**Chapter 7 – An Overdue Goodbye**

Taking a deep breathe, Alicia closed her eyes softly. Embracing the warmth of the sun beaming down upon her, encasing her in its presence and causing her skin to tingle in response. Even the cold wind of autumn occasionally made its presence known. As if on cue, a strong gust ripped through Central City passing through her. Opening her eyes slowly, Alicia leant against the bark of a nearby tree, her eyes mesmerised with the shimmering of the leaves as the wind blew through them. Spontaneously however, a dried leaf would leave the safety of the tree, and instead turn to riding the wind, twisting and turning through the sky as it disappears off into the horizon on its next journey. The journey that comes after life.

Smiling half-heartedly, Alicia ceased leaning against the tree on top of the small hill. Instead, the young woman returned her focus to the large group of people which stood in the centre of the cemetery across from her. The group appeared to be listening closely to the priest as he read a sermon regarding Andy, her friend who had decided to move onto his next adventure a little earlier than others.

From where she stood Alicia could easily make out Monica and Jess, the toddler seemed to be clutching a small monkey toy under one of her arms, while her free hand was clasped tightly on to the hand of her sobbing mother. Smoothing down her plain black dress, Alicia slowly adjusted her bun; tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear gently. With the funeral seemingly coming to a close, it was time Alicia said her overdue goodbye. Carefully rolling her aching shoulder, the young woman bent down slowly as she retrieved the bouquet of white roses she had leant against the bottom of the tree.

Glancing around her surroundings once more, the young woman made a move forwards; her tall black heels sinking into the soft mud. Cursing silently, Alicia stood on one leg as she lowered herself to the ground to remove her shoe, however she hesitated, while gazing over her surroundings Alicia found her eyes locking onto the impossible man.

Straightening herself upright, the young woman smiled to herself. In a similar fashion, the streak leant against a large tree which stood tall overlooking the cemetery. Tilting her head, Alicia noted that the hero seemed to be closely watching the funeral below, his head lowered as he paid his respects. Wandering slowly over, Alicia approached the man as quietly as possible; careful not to disturb him.

"Hi" Alicia stated loudly in an attempt to surprise the streak, abruptly, the man seemed to step more into the shadow casted by the tree, his head vibrating and distorting his features. "Gotcha!"

The faint blur of a smile slowly grew on across his face.

Alicia laughed as she nodded slowly, her eyes turning back to the funeral below. Clasping onto the roses tighter, the young woman turned back to the man before her. "Are you here for the funeral?"

"I'm not staying" He paused in consideration as he looked back towards the group, his eyes narrowing on Jess. "I just wanted to pay my respects, I try to with every person I don't manage to save."

"I guess it helps. A final goodbye." Alicia muttered. With the soft breeze blowing through them, the young woman noticed his attention was fixated on little Jess, she smiled. "That's Jess his daughter."

The streak seemed to wince as he dipped his head slightly, his eyes casted back to Alicia. "How old?"

Alicia bit her lip as she felt tears well in her eyes, "Two."

"She's barely going to remember him." The streak shook his head, his hands curling into tight fists as he leant against the tree. Alicia shook her head vigorously, her hands raised to comfort the hero before falling back to her sides in hesitation.

"No- Don't say that, she wouldn't ever do that!" Alicia vowed. "You don't forget people that close."

The streak seemed to consider her for a moment before he relaxed, his hands falling away from the tree.

"She's going to be fine, she's a little fighter." Alicia smiled with relief, the back of her hands wiping away the tears which threatened to fall from her eyes. As she did, a fond memory of Jess's birth filled her mind. Monica had gone into labour earlier than expected, meaning Andy panicked like a three year old. His first port of call? Alicia. The young woman smiled to herself slightly, she still remembered his high pitched voice as he blubbered down the phone asking for a favour. He was incredibly lucky that she was still on duty that day.

"I am sure she will, after all she's got you. The woman who faced her father's killer alone and then saved a civilian, _after_ surviving a train wreck." The streak commented back, his voice echoing through the air in a mesmerising tone.

"You know what, you're right…. I'm Aunt Badass" Alicia smirked as she elbowed the hero in his side lightly, careful not to jolt the flowers or her shoulder. Taking a deep breathe once again she rolled her injury slowly. "You know this is the first time I have spoken to you when my head isn't messed up, the previous times I've either been drunk of concussed."

"That's just the way of life for an 'Aunt Badass'" The streak stated with a small laugh. Alicia agreed with a small nod, she was just able to resist the urge flex her pitiful muscles in that moment.

"You know-"Alicia whispered, her eyes casting around their position as she made sure nobody was near. "I am so badass that I sometimes… eat my dessert before my main."

"Oh…" The streak stepped away from leaning on the tree, his blurred eyes narrowed comically. "Really now? Hmm… I better keep an eye on you that definitely sounds like the beginnings of an elite super villain."

Alicia gasped, her head tilting to the side as she took in his appearance. "Says the man running about in spandex."

"Please this is better than spandex." He corrected as a matter of fact.

Alicia laughed, her eyes creased as she stepped away from the hero and turned her attention back to the funeral. It seemed wrong to be laughing on a day like today. Closing her eyes, Alicia took a deep breath as she regained her stoic composure, her eyes still locked on to the funeral below. In the distance, she could just about hear the beginning of the song 'Wait' by M83, its soft tune angelic as they slowly lowered the glossy black coffin in to the ground.

"Thank-you" Alicia commented suddenly, her seriousness changing the tone of the conversation. She could feel him standing closer to her than before, through her periphery vision she could tell he was watching her closely. "You have saved my life in more ways than one. Not only physically, but you've helped me realise that I'm not alone, no-one is ever truly alone. I have learnt more in these past few days than I have learnt in my life so far. But, Its time for me to stop learning."

Alicia stopped as she turned to face the Streak, he seemed stoic as she continued. "I have a family I need to look out for now."

The streak nodded once before moving away slowly, a small smile on his face. "See you around Alicia Norris."

"See you around impossible man." Alicia whispered. The man in red seemed to consider the name for a few moments before shrugging and disappearing with a gust of wind. Turning back to the funeral which was now beginning to disband, Alicia started the long walk away from the trees.

It only took a couple of minutes before she was wading through the disbursing crowd, their backs turned away from the freshly polished headstone, as they moved elsewhere to deal with their grief. However as the crowds left and space was cleared, their absence revealed the meaning of Andy's life; the two long figures which were his family.

Clutching the roses tightly between her hands, Alicia flinched as its thorns dug into her skin sharply. A cruel and painful reminder that this wasn't a dream.

Coming to a stop behind Monica, Alicia watched as the widow observed her daughter from a distance; Jess seemed fixated on her father's headstone. Coughing lightly into her hand, Alicia rendered Monica's attention. Turning abruptly, the widow gasped in shock, her hands flying to her mouth as tears began to slip down her already stained face. Stepping forwards, Monica embraced Alicia into a tight hug; her hands throwing Alicia's bouquet of roses to the ground. Feeling her own tears rush down her face, Alicia buried herself into the black mess of Monica's hair, while her hand rubbed the widows back in a soothing motion.

"I'm so sorry Monica" Alicia mumbled into the mess of hair.

"Just Shut-up" Monica mumbled back. Pulling herself away, Monica pulled a tissue from the sleeve of her black cardigan and wiped away at her streaming nose.

Alicia didn't know what to say, she was speechless. In fact, the young woman found herself in the exact terrifying position she had been avoiding for the past few days. Biting the inside of her lip, Alicia reined in her hyperactive mind. Once Monica had finished cleaning herself up, the widow seemed to consider Alicia closely. Suddenly however, her face turned stern, her slender arm extending wide as she swung it in a round arc straight in to the side of Alicia's face.

Stumbling away in a daze, Alicia stared in an undignified manner towards Monica. "What was that for?"

Monica shook her head, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. "For blaming yourself and not coming to me sooner. I was worried Alicia! I haven't heard from you in days!"

Alicia froze as her heart sank. She was worried? Why? Surely she had to have known that she wasn't injured on the attack on the theatre. Unless it was about the events and injuries which came thereafter, but she surely didn't know about them. Stepping closer once again, Alicia embraced Monica in another hug, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "I was selfish. I'm sorry."

"Damn right you should be." Monica sighed as she pulled away from the hug once again, her bright eyes locked on Alicia's. "But I also know why you did."

Alicia smiled softly, "You're going to be fine, and everything will be fine. Trust me."

Monica sighed as she glanced back across to Jess who hadn't noticed a thing, her tiny hand pressed against the surface of her father's grave. "I don't know if it will be fine Alicia."

"It seems hard now, but we will get through this." Alicia reassured, grabbing on to Monica's hand, the young woman reined in the widow's attention once more. "As a team."

Glancing across to Jess, Alicia frowned as the young toddler seemed to be positioning the monkey against the grave carefully. "What's the monkey about?"

"Andy gave it to her for her birthday-" Monica sobbed silently as she struggled to maintain her composure, "-Sorry… when he gave it to her, he said that the monkey would protect her while he was gone so that he- he… knew she was safe until he got home from work."

Monica sobbed once again as tears began to flood her cheeks. Noting the change, Alicia decided Monica was close to breaking point. "Hey, why don't you head to the car and have a drink. I'll get Jess and then we can head back to mine for a bit. Okay?"

Nodding mutely, Monica began to wander towards the car park of the cemetery, her eyes casted to the ground as she carefully manoeuvred herself around Alicia's flowers. Picking the roses up from the floor, Alicia wiped away her own tears as she completed the small walk to Jess.

"Have monkey daddy." Jess stated slowly, her sentence half broken. Leaning forwards the toddler settling the monkey upright in to a sitting position. "Monkey look-" the little girl took a deep breath as she continued to speak, "-fter you daddy."

Alicia cried silently into her hand, this was too heart-breaking to watch. Suppressing the urge to turn and run, the young woman moved close to Jess, her knees bending as lowered herself closer to the ground beside the toddler. Jess smiled through watery eyes as she greeted Alicia.

"Would you mind if I-" Alicia gestured to the bouquet in her hands, Jess shrugged and made a small gap next to the stuffed monkey. Silently, Alicia positioned the roses carefully, even little Jess contributed by ensuring the monkey's arms were wrapped tightly around the flowers stems.

"Done" Jess announced with an accomplished smile. Nodding in agreement, Alicia wrapped her arm around the little girl.

"Your Daddy would be proud." Alicia noted as she hugged the girl tightly. "He loved you so very much."

Jess laughed with a small giggle, her eyes glancing between Alicia and to a space just beyond the grave. It was strange, as If her eyes were latched on to something; following it around. Alicia turned to follow her gaze, finding nothing but the trees on the hill.

Ignoring the strange action, the young woman moved closed to the grave. Pressing her hand against the headstone, Alicia bit her lip as she allowed herself a few moment of vulnerability. "Goodbye Andy, if there's a bar up there- save me a seat alright? In the meantime… I'm going to look after them for you, even if it's the last thing I do."

Jess clapped with a small smile.

"Come on then." Alicia stood upwards with a small sigh, not even bothering to clean away the tears from her face. Scooping the small toddler in to her arms as she balanced the young girl on her hip. "Let's go see Mummy, okay?"

Jess nodded as Alicia began to walk back towards the carpark, her mind steel in its resolve. What she had failed to mention, was the disappointment she felt in allowing his killer to escape. She wasn't stupid though, and although she had made promises to stop her retribution hunt, they were only ever half-hearted ones. Because one day she was going to find Snart, and by god she was going to make him pay for what he's done.

Feeling Jess rock in her arms, Alicia glanced across through her periphery vision, smiling as the young girl began to wave back towards the grave. "Bye Da- Daddy!"


	8. Chapter 8 - Coward

**Chapter 8 – Coward**

"It's been a week since Andy's funeral." Alicia spoke aloud as she frantically scribbled in to a small leather bound book. "Monica tells me it's good to write down your feelings, so here I am scribbling a pointless monologue in to a book that no-one will ever read. Meanwhile Monica on the other hand, gets to enjoy the company of a bottle of vodka."

Sighing the young woman looked up from her perched position on the fire exit attached to her apartment. The sun was slowly dipping on the horizon, a spectrum of colours filling the sky as the shadows casted from the tall building slowly began to shroud the alleyways which ran between them. Shivering slightly, Alicia turned back to the small leather book. "So much can happen in a week. In fact, a lot has happened. Turns out, Monica, who I had considered to be one of the strongest people I know, only portrays the hard exterior to the outside. Its only when Andy died, that her façade fell and her true colours were shown. Like many other cliché widows, she has turned to drink, affecting her usual laid back attitude and morphing it into a snappy destructive one, a mood which is affecting everyone around her."

"I have tried speaking to Monica, but she doesn't want to know. She's angry at a lot of things, and it doesn't help that Jess is a constant reminder of what happened. It's strange, Jess doesn't act like she has lost her father. I understand that she is young, but sometimes she acts like she has just seen or spoken to him." Alicia paused, her pen creating a large ink blob at the end of the sentence. "I guess some people just react to grief in different ways."

"As for myself I'm doing fine. The days are long and boring working in the museum, I find doing the same monotonous actions leaves me feeling like I'm not truly living. Ever since the events of the previous week, I've been missing something." Alicia leant back against the iron railing behind her, the cold sinking into her skin and chilling her bones. Scratching a line under the word 'something', Alicia drew a line off to the side and continued her entry.

"Although, that's what I tell myself, for deep down inside I know exactly what I'm missing. The adrenalin." Alicia bit her lip as the memories of the train derailing resurfaced, revelling in the memory of her quickened heart rate as she raced to diagnose and help the injured woman. "I think I miss the ambulance service. Being a paramedic meant everything to me, it was something I had worked so hard to achieve."

The young woman paused as she turned her head towards the sun, its final rays disappearing behind the shimmering Missouri river. "It's funny how one odd eventful day, can change how you perceive everything, including how you perceive yourself."

Alicia shut the leather bound book and she shuffled back through her open window and in to her apartment. The curtains which rested either side of the open window fluttered through the air as a soft breeze following Alicia inside. Skirting past her sofa and coffee table, Alicia wandered slowly across to the large mirror which hung in the corner of the room. Stopping in front of the chest of draws, Alicia looked down at the array of photos which rested upon its surface. Resting her book on to the wooden side, Alicia slowly looked up to the mirror; her eyes locking with her reflection as she stared at it intently. "I hate who I see in the mirror." Alicia mumbled to herself.

_Alicia gasped awake; sweet oxygen filled her lungs as her limbs tingled from the restricted blood flow. Taking another deep breathe, Alicia allowed her eyes to open as her whole body began to respond slowly. Looking hazily upwards towards the sky, the young woman took in the beauty of the stars, their dying light surging as it brightened up the darkness of space. Groaning Alicia began to wiggle her fingers and toes, the pins and needles sensation slowly reducing in it's severity._

_Taking in her surroundings, the young woman noted she was at the bottom of a cliff. Its jagged face shining softly as the light from the city reflected off its surface. Shaking her head, Alicia suddenly remembered the drop. The sickening feeling that had encompassed her body as she plummeted towards the ground below. _

_"Nrgh"_

_Alicia turned her head slowly as she noted the presence of another body beside her. Curled inwards on himself was Mark, his skin was incredibly pale as he appeared frail and defenceless. Narrowing her eyes, Alicia realised that his hair had changed from a deep brown to a stark white colour, his skin covered in age spots as it creased and wrinkled over in places it hadn't before._

_Slowly, Mark's eyes opened to look in to her own. They were almost lifeless, yet filled with a strange emotion. Fear._

_Alicia glanced at Mark's positioning, He was curled into a foetal position much like the patient she had been trying to save earlier, his bones protruding outwards as he seemed to have lost his muscular build. Following one of his arms, Alicia noted that one of his deformed hands was holding hers tightly; almost as if he was searching for a pulse. Feeling her breathe hitch, the young woman quickly yanked her hand away._

_"Help… me" Mark gasped as his chest heaved upwards. Alicia slowly pried herself into a sitting position, her feet pushing away at the loose ground began to scramble away from his body, her breathing frantic as she glanced between the ledge on the cliff face, and the small scared man before her. _

_Feeling her bones ache with exhaustion, Alicia ignored her own wellbeing as she watched the struggle Mark had as he fought for every breath that he took. _

_Suddenly a loud explosion filled the air, causing Alicia to flinch and scream in fear; her hands curling around her head as a piercing headache throbbed away at her temples. Turning back to the city, the young woman noted the large amount of tumbling flames expanding outwards from what used to be the particle accelerator. Her eyes widened as memories of the golden explosion filled her mind… had this caused Mark's strange transformation._

_Turning back to Mark, Alicia noted his hand was extended towards her, his eyes watering as he continued the struggle to breathe. _

_"Please" He whispered._

_Alicia struggled to keep her breathing under control as she slowly slipped towards hyperventilation. What would happen if she touched him? Would he transfer whatever it was over to herself? Alicia glanced around her surroundings carefully as she considered her next move. _

_"I'm sorry" Alicia announced towards Mark. Reaching for a nearby rock, the young woman pulled herself upwards from the ground, careful not to aggravate her body further. Turning to Mark once more, Alicia wiped away the tears which had begun to fall down her face as she pulled off her paramedic's jacket. Clutching the clothing tightly between her hands, the young woman threw it to the ground._

_Screams erupted from the city one again as the particle accelerator continued to burn, only now that she truly looked, Alicia noted that there appeared to be more than one outbreak of flames spreading across the city. She could only imagine the devastation and loss which would be recorded the next day._

_"Alicia…" Mark sighed as his breaths began to falter._

_Seeing it as the only thing she could do…. Alicia Norris turned and ran._

A loud ringing erupted across Alicia's apartment, pulling her from her reverie abruptly. Glancing back to her reflection, the young woman slowly wiped away a single tear which slipped down the side of her face. Forcing a smile upon her features, the young woman slowly wandered across to the coffee table, where he phone continued to ring consistently.

Frowning at the caller ID, Alicia slid her finger across the screen answering the phone. "Monica?"

"Alicia!" Monica cried enthusiastically down the phone, "You have got to come down to this bar, its hella-cool"

Pinching the bridge of her nose, the young woman fell back into the safety of her sofa. "Hella cool?"

"Please come down!" Monica begged, her mood considerable brighter with the presence of alcohol in her system. "Jess is with a babysitter and I don't get out often!"

Alicia bit her tongue as she suppressed the honest answer away from Monica, "No you don't do you. I guess I could come down to meet you for one drink, but I do have a shift tomorrow…" Alicia droned with sarcasm, slowly she began to play with the ends of her hair; twisting its auburn colour around her slender fingers slowly.

Ignoring the comment, Monica continued with her relentless begging. "There are some pretty good looking guys here Alicia, we could finally get you an eligible bachelorette or you know… Ill end up with them…"

"You mean find me a Mr Smith to my Mrs Smith?" Alicia smirked mischievously, she was pretty proud of her pop cultural reference.

"Your what?" Monica slurred indignantly in response.

Alicia pouted as she sat upwards slowly from the comfort of her sofa. "It's a film? You know-"

"Listen if you don't-"

Alicia gulped as she raised one of her hands upwards in defeat, "Okay, I'm coming just… what bar is it?"

"I think it's called The Eire?" Monica answered confused. Alicia rolled her eyes as she shook her head slowly.

"Well that's convincing. Listen I'm on my way, just don't do anything stupid until I get there" Alicia replied before hanging up abruptly.

Jumping upwards from her sofa, Alicia wandered across to her window as she pulled it down and locked it shut. Once again she found herself on clean up duty. Although she wanted to do anything but go to the bar, Alicia realised that Monica was in a rough place and to make sure that she was fine she would need to be there for her, and not be a coward. Sometimes it really was like she was looking after two children. Deciding her current attire of black jeans and a white t-shirt was sufficient, Alicia grabbed her blue patterned kimono and headed out of the door.

* * *

The bright yellow taxi came to a soft halt outside 'The Eire', the sidewalk was packed as people frantically made their way home or moved on to the next bar for drinks, Thursday nights were always the worst. Opening the door slowly, Alicia climbed out from the back seat, her hands fiddling with her bag as she pulled it away from the closing door. Wandering to the front of the car, the young woman crouched slightly as she began to search for her purse to pay the metre charge.

Handing the driver twenty dollars, Alicia slowly backed away from the road as he sped off into the awaiting traffic. Turning, the young woman took in the bar's rustic appearance before walking up to the glass doors. Entwining her hand around the metal handle, Alicia submerged herself into the relaxed atmosphere of the bar, although the music was rock like its volume wasn't pounding and off putting. Moving through some of the bustling bodies of dancers, Alicia approached the bar warily as she rested against the counter.

Turning, a nearby barman signalled towards her as he slowly cleaned up a new glass.

"Just a vodka and lemonade please." Alicia asked politely. Nodding the man moved off to make the drink, his head casted low as he worked away. Taking in her surroundings, Alicia smiled at the rustic decoration. The walls were painted a crème colour, as artistic paintings covered the majority of its surface. Above the bar was wooden shelves, 'The Erie' written across it in golden swirled writing.

Slowly the barman walked back towards her, the drink she had ordered clasped tightly in his hands. Resting it gently on the side, he proceeded to punch the details into a cash register.

"That will be seven dollars."

Nodding Alicia turned to her bag, dipping her head she once again began to the process of retrieving her purse from the bag's abyss. Rifling through its contents, Alicia sighed with frustration.

"Hi, can I have three shots please."

Alicia froze; as her eyes widened ever so slightly. She recognised that voice from somewhere in her memories. Retrieving her purse, Alicia slowly pulled it from her bag as her head gradually rose upwards. Pulling her long hair away from her face, Alicia freed up her vision as she scanned the bars surroundings for the origin of the voice. Glancing to her left, Alicia's eyes widened in surprise.

"Sure thing" The barman stated as he walked away from Alicia to begin the second order.

Alicia however was transfixed as she stared at the person before her, the memories tied to the voice suddenly filling her mind as she recognised the pretty red head across from her.

"Abs" Alicia muttered as she remembered the identity tag which had been attached to the doctor at the train wreck.

Tilting her head Alicia noted the similarities, the woman across from her was definitely the same one who had helped save the impossible man. Unlike before however the woman appeared to be wearing a more casual attire than the office wear she had been in before.

Suddenly the barman returned with the woman's three shots, his hands slowly placing them on the counter. Smiling, she nodded with thanks as her eyes followed him towards Alicia, who was still waiting to pay.

That's when their gazes met.

Alicia watched as the woman seemed to frown at first, her eyebrows knotting on her forehead as a look of surprise and panic gradually began to fill her features.

"Excuse me?" The barman asked as he stood before Alicia, blocking her sight of the woman from her. Pulling herself from her reverie, Alicia apologised as she passed the barman her exact change for the drink. Pushing her purse back into her bag, Alicia glanced around the barman to try and spot the woman once more. However, she had gone leaving a space in amongst the crowd of people.

Frowning Alicia grasped her drink tightly as she took a large sip, moving away from the bar she began to search the sea of people for the doctor she could have sworn she had seen. Although she liked to think that she had legitimately seen her, Alicia wasn't afraid to rule out the possibility that it could have just been her mind playing tricks.

That was when Alicia waltzed straight into Monica.

"ALICIA!" Monica cried loudly, her hand encircling around her neck. Leaning away slowly, Alicia smiled over exaggeratedly as she took another long sip of her drink.

"Monica…" Alicia stated with a little less of excitement than the widow.

"So seen any guys you like?" Monica winked seductively, her hands swaying softly as she danced to the music.

"No thanks-" Alicia muttered in response, turning back to the bar where the lady had stood Alicia frowned. "I do think I'm seeing things though."

"Well this isn't any good." Monica muttered before downing the remainder of wine left in her glass. Leaving the empty glass on the side of the bar, Monica began to drag Alicia through the crowd by her hand. "Lets see- OH!"

Alicia was suddenly thrusted forwards by Monica. Stumbling over her steps, the young woman struggled to keep her balance as she flew forwards, her hands shaking as she tried in vain not to spill her drink. Slamming into the chest of another person, Alicia blushed as she felt their hands grasp on to her shoulders to steady her.

"Sorry" Alicia apologised as she slowly recovered herself, standing straight the young woman raised her head to meet the eyes of the 'stranger'. "Monica has had a little too much… to-" Alicia paused as she tilted her head, her eyes meeting the recognisable gaze of Mr Barry Allen.

"Barry?" Alicia finished. He eyes glazing over his appearance, The young scientist appeared to be wearing a grey t-shirt and black cardigan, his hair styled the same way as it had been when he visited her in the hospital; swooped over to the side.

"Alicia?" Barry answered back with the same tone of confusion, looking around the bar he seemed to smile. "What are you-"

Realising that his hands were still clutching her shoulders, Alicia stepped away breaking the touch. Sighing she simply gestured back towards the giggling wreck of Monica behind her. "That's why I am here, it's also the reason why I was thrown in to you."

"Sorry to hear." Barry commented as he smirked at the giggling wreck in the corner. Crossing his arms over his chest, he seemed to consider Monica carefully. "How is she doing?"

"Hmph?" Alicia murmured as she checked to ensure that her drink remained as full as it had been.

"Is that not Andy's partner?" Barry questioned with a slight nod of the head towards Monica. Following the gesture, Alicia nodded slowly.

"Oh yeah, she's doing as fine as you would be. She has my help of course, as well as the help of alcohol…. But you can see that."

Barry smirked at the response before turning to Alicia, his eyes narrowing as he watched her carefully. A degree of care appeared to reflect across his eyes, although Alicia dismissed it as an illusion. "How are you doing?" Barry questioned softly.

Alicia bit her lip as she hesitated for a moment, the lie she wanted to say on the tip of her tongue.

"I'm doing great." Alicia commented, although she was sure the forensic scientist had picked up on the lie. Alicia frowned inwards, although she recognised that she had told the stranger the complete truth before, it had been under the influence of drugs. But, something inside her niggled away gradually at her heart, screaming at her to just be honest and trustworthy. Lying to everyone was not the way to make friends.

However, even if Barry had noticed lie he had neglected to respond to it. "Good." Barry stated simply, a small smile filling his features.

"Well-" Alicia murmured as she tried to recover the conversation. "I'm doing as great as you can do, when you have the threat of being arrested hanging over your head-"

"Oh" Barry stated suddenly, his eyes lighting up. "I was going to tell you tomorrow- I guess this saves me the trip! You were cleared of charges yesterday, the police weren't ever able to recover the gun, In fact there was no sign of one at all."

"Well that's just great." Alicia smiled, although for some reason there was an edge of disappointment in her mind at the good news. Confused, the young woman shook it off. "I do still owe you for that."

"Your secret is safe with me." Barry smiled mischievously, his eyebrows wiggling in a strange gesture. Laughing at the geeky response, Alicia gestured towards the bar.

"I could pay off my debt now? A drink?" Alicia questioned.

Barry simply shook his head, "I think I've had enough for tonight, but I'll hang on to that debt."

"Brilliant. As long as it doesn't accrue interest, I'm okay with that!" Alicia giggled as she punched the man lightly in the arm. Passing her glass nervously between her clammy hands the young woman tilted her head. "So why are you here anyway? Are you celebrating or?"

"Just needed a break" Barry sighed as he scratched the back of his neck, his other hand pushed tightly into his jean pocket. "I've been a little stressed out recently."

"Well…" Alicia paused as she took another sip of her drink, the bitter lemon running down the back of her throat. "I guess it is hard work being a hero."

Barry seemed to freeze, his head tilted to the side in confusion as he smiled. "Wh-Wha-"

"I imagine working for the police is harder than it looks. I mean, you might not be in the field, but just remember that you're the one saving future lives, now that's practically the job of a hero." Alicia smiled as raised her drink in the air as a toast, her eyes struggling to stay alight as she fought away her own dark memories.

"Oh yeah?" Barry laughed in return, for a moment he slowly turned away from Alicia, his eyes seemingly linking with another's in the crowd behind him. Alicia tilted her head inquisitively and tried to peer around to follow his gaze, however it was blocked by the presence of another couple approaching them.

"Barry-" The blonde American TV show detective walked towards them, his eyes grave. Noting Alicia's presence, the detective inclined his head in respect. "There's been a bomb on 8th and pass. Sorry I got to go."

Barry nodded as the detective pushed past and headed towards the door. Behind him lingered a pretty woman, her hair was dark and eyes seemed to reflect a variety of emotions behind their coffee coloured irises. Turning to Barry, she seemed to smile an incredible smile.

"I should go as well, I have an early shift." She stated sadly, her eyes briefly glancing across to Alicia. Barry nodded as he watched the young woman slowly head towards the door. Alicia watched as his eyes lingered on her presence until she had fully disappeared, and from the look which filled his features, Alicia knew instantly that it was someone he held dear.

Turning back to face her, he seemed to shrug. "I should go to."

Alicia nodded as she stepped away slowly, her elbows resting against the side of the bar. "Good luck."

Barry smirked to himself as he headed towards the door, "Stay out of trouble."

"I can't promise anything." Alicia called after the forensic scientist. Laughing Barry disappeared among the bustling bodies of dancers and out of the door. After he had left, Monica gradually made her was forwards, nestling beside Alicia and the bar.

"How did it go with lover boy then?" Monica slurred.

Alicia ignored Monica as her heart began to hammer in her chest. A bombing meant that there was potentially causalities in need of aid, as a former paramedic surely that meant that she had a duty to attend the scene as well right? After all with the traffic on the streets at the moment, she would be there quicker than an actual ambulance crew. Feeling the adrenalin kick into her blood stream and mix with the already present excitement and regret, Alicia thrusted her drink towards Monica. She couldn't resist it.

"Stay here, I've got to go and see what's happened." Alicia commanded Monica.

Turning to face the bar, Alicia gripped the edge as she pried herself upwards and leant across its surface; the spilled alcohol which covered the wood soaking in to her white t-shirt and teasing her stomach. Kicking her floundering legs in the air behind her, the young woman thrusted herself forwards. She knew exactly what she was after, she had seen it when she took in her surroundings earlier after all.

With her eyes latching on to a green plastic first aid kit which remained nestled under one of the pumps, Alicia reached outwards and grasped it tightly; swinging the small box it into the air as she pulled it back across the bar. Regaining her balance, Alicia began to sprint full power towards the door, her elbows extended as she pushed the dancers aside; her ears ringing with the cries which erupted behind her.

Now was not the time to be a coward. Not ever again.


	9. Chapter 9 - Lightning Reflexes

**Chapter 9 – Lightning Reflexes**

Racing through the streets on foot, Alicia scuffed her shoes constantly as her feet flew as quickly as they could across the ground. Following the queue of traffic and police cars, the young woman panted with exertion as she rounded another corner. Above her, stood the tall skyscrapers which was iconic for the centre of the city, however unlike usual, one of the skyscrapers appeared to be ablaze. Alicia faltered in her steps as she stared at the tumbling flames, the glass around it flickering as the smoke rose upwards across the shattered panes. It raised so many similarities to the night that the accelerator exploded.

Turning back to the street, Alicia moved closer to the border of police cars which blocked the road. As she predicted there were no ambulances in sight as a swarm of bystanders inside the police cordon approached the professionals for help. Moving forwards, Alicia peered into the mess of bystanders, her eyes locking on to one particular young girl who seemed slightly shaken.

"You can't come in here-" An officer stated simply as he rested his hands either side of Alicia's shoulders. Glancing away from the young girl, Alicia turned her attention to the officer. He was a short and stocky man, however the strength of which he held Alicia at bay suggested that he was stronger than he first looked.

"I'm a paramedic, you have to let me see the injured." Alicia lied as she raised the small plastic first aid kit in her hands upwards. The officer simply raised an eyebrow as he tutted slightly.

"You don't look like a paramedic." He glanced down at Alicia's alcohol soaked t-shirt, his head slowly shaking, "In fact you look like you had an accident at a brewery."

Alicia rolled her eyes as she gestured to her causal clothing once more, "It was my night off okay? I've got to let my hair down once and a while. Besides the ambulances haven't arrived yet, at least let me help some of the injured until the ambulances start to show up, then I'll go." Alicia reasoned, her hand reaching upwards as she tucked a lose strand of hair behind her ear.

The officer sighed as he glanced around unsure. Turning her attention back to the young girl amongst the crowd, Alicia tilted her head in consideration. She could easily see the laceration which spanned the young girl's forehead, it appeared to be deep as a steady trail of blood slowly slipped down the side of her cheek. Noting Alicia's lack of attention, The officer followed her gaze intently his eyes softening in the warm light produced by the fire.

"Fine" He announced suddenly as he moved aside. "But only until the ambulances arrive."

Alicia nodded in thanks as she rushed past the officer, ducking under the police tape as delicately as possible. Standing upwards on the other side of the cordon, the young woman slowly began wandering forwards, the flashing blue and red lights highlighting the worried faces of the surrounding bystanders. Alicia kept her hands tucked to herself as she continued made her way towards the young girl, who remained huddled close to her mother.

"Hello" Alicia commented as she slowly knelt down to her knees, the young girl turned to face her in confusion. "I'm a medic, can I take a look at your head?"

The young girl froze as she slowly glanced up towards her mother. Nodding frantically, the older woman pushed her daughter encouragingly towards Alicia. Smiling, Alicia laid her plastic first aid kit to the ground, her hands clicking the case open slowly.

"How did this happen then?" Alicia commented as she slowly prepared some antiseptic wipes and a wound dressing. The young girl pouted slightly as Alicia began to wipe away the blood with the antiseptic wipe. Upon contact, the young girl hissed in pain as Alicia could only assume that the antiseptic began to work its magic.

"It was some glass" The girl muttered as tears slowly slipped down the side of her cheeks. Alicia slowly finished wiping away at the cut, with the blood gone she could clearly see that the laceration was a clean cut line across her forehead. Smiling, Alicia leaned back to her first aid kit.

"Well you're such a trooper" She commented. Pulling the wound dressing from her first aid kit, Alicia gently pressed it against the young girl's head, her spare hand encasing the girl's as she pulled it up to press the dressing against her forehead. Turning to the mother who watched with concern, Alicia smiled reassuringly.

"It looks like it might need some stitches but it isn't serious, just take her to an A &amp; E department and they will fix it right up."

The mother nodded in understanding as she wrapped her arms around her daughter once more. The young girl smiled as she nuzzled in to her mother's arms. Alicia backed away from the family as they slowly moved off towards the edge of the cordon. Turning her attention back to the blaze, Alicia could almost feel the warmth from the flames from where she stood.

"Hey!" A voice announced. Alicia almost jumped from her skin as an unfamiliar set of hands encased her shoulder, pulling her close. Turning to face the voice, Alicia frowned as she recognised the pretty woman from the bar; the one who Barry had stared longingly after.

"You're the woman from the bar right? Barry's friend?" The woman questioned with a raised eyebrow, her hands wrapped tightly across her chest. Pulling in her thoughts, Alicia nodded mutely.

"Yeah I guess I am… and you are?"

The woman smiled brightly as she shook her head, "Iris, I hope you don't mind, but I may have just used you as a way to get past the cordon. How did you get through! I've been struggling for ages!" She gestured back towards the large officer who had tried to prevent Alicia from entering the cordon also. He appeared to be staring intently at the women as he evaluated his decision to trust them intently.

Alicia turned back to Iris as she smiled softly. "Alicia" She introduced, "It would seem we are both in trouble then if we're caught."

"Huh?" Iris asked in confusion, her eyes no longer locked on Alicia and instead on the tall skyscraper which stood ablaze.

"I may have told a small white lie to get in here, it was for a good cause though." Alicia smirked as she slowly bent down to the ground to retrieve her plastic first aid kit. Tucking it beneath her arm, Alicia began to glance around their surroundings for more potential patients to treat. "Although if I remember rightly, you told Barry that you were headed home for the night because of an early shift?"

Iris glanced momentarily across to Alicia, a small smirk gracing her features, "You're not the only liar then are you?." Iris responded, her attention turning back to the burning building.

"Why did you want to get inside anyway?" Alicia began to ask, however her attention was captured once more by Iris, as the young woman extended her arm outwards and slapped Alicia across the chest.

"Look!" Iris exclaimed as she gestured towards the building.

Following her gaze, Alicia frowned as she saw nothing but the skyscraper. "What?"

"Did you see that?" Iris asked again, her eyes wide as she turned back to Alicia.

"I didn't see anything, just the fire" Alicia commented.

"I've got to see this" Iris begged, her eyes glancing back to the office who still continued to watch her intently. "I need to stick with you though, he made me promise otherwise he'd pull us both out. Come on! You're going to want to see this anyway!"

Alicia frowned as the stranger proceeded to grab her arm and pull her towards an alleyway off to the side. Running forwards, Alicia and Iris moved past the still bodies of the homeless which rested in amongst the shadows.

Ignoring the apprehension which was beginning to settle in the pit of her stomach, Alicia settled for lightening the atmosphere. "You know you're leading me into a creepy dark alleyway, this isn't to kill me right?"

"Please." Iris stated simply as she continued to lead the way forwards.

Approaching a 'T Junction' in the alleyway, Iris stopped as she peered around the corner. Alicia followed mutely as the two approached the bottom of the tall skyscraper. As they rounded the corner however, the two women stopped abruptly in their steps.

Before them couched the Impossible man, a window washer clad in his arms who huddled inwards on himself in pain. Gasping, Alicia rushed forwards immediately with her plastic first aid kit, her arms instantly grappling on to the man as she pulled him away from the streak and back towards the entrance of the alleyway.

"Are you okay?" Alicia questioned softly as they came to a halt at the mouth of the alleyway. Placing her first aid kit on the ground, Alicia repositioned the man so that he was in a more comfortable position.

"Weigh…."

"Pardon?" Alicia repeated as she struggled to understand the breathless mutterings of the man.

"Weight…bearer" The window washer repeated, his eyes fluttering as he struggled to breathe.

"I-I don't understand" Alicia muttered as she looked around the scene before them.

"The… weightbearer" He stated as clearly as he could for a third time, his eyes gesturing upwards.

It suddenly dawned on Alicia. Turning back towards the impossible man, the young woman noted that there was a burning heap of metal behind him, presumably the winch of which the window washer had been standing on. Swallowing a dry lump in her throat, Alicia slowly looked up the side of the building. Least to her surprise, another piece of metal dangled haphazardly above them, and more importantly directly above the streak.

Turning her attention back to the impossible man, Alicia noted his attention was fully focused on Iris, their eyes linked in an eternal battle as he slowly began to shake his head, distorting his features into a blur. Looking upwards briefly again, Alicia turned back to the wounded man, pushing him to the ground before bolting forwards towards the impossible man.

As Alicia rushed forwards she heard the metal snap above them. Although technically she reasoned it should the streak reacting fast enough to save them both, but even she had to admit he appeared to be a little preoccupied. Crashing in to the streak, Alicia wrapped her arms around him as she pushed them both safely backwards. Pressing her cheek against the cool leather of his suit, the impossible man seemed confused and hesitant as his own arms encased her waist, his steps increasing as they moved back and away from tumbling mass of metal; quicker than humanly possible.

Crashing to the floor in a tangled mass of limbs, Alicia sighed in relief as within seconds the spot where they had originally been standing was filled with the crumpled metal of the weight bearer. The crashing sound of its impact resonating through the alleyway as it resounded off the burning skyscrapers window panes.

Gasping, Alicia smiled successfully as she looked down at the impossible man before her. He seemed confused as he stared directly in to her eyes, his hands splayed outwards either side of him. Blushing, Alicia suddenly noted that she was still laying on top of him, her own arms wrapped around his neck. Rolling off to the side as quickly as she could, Alicia composed herself silently. Her head resting against the cold concrete floor of the alleyway.

From her periphery vision, Alicia watched as the streak slowly sat upwards and appeared to frown, his gaze locked on the mess of metal before him.

Coughing Alicia also sat upwards slowly, a cocky smile filling her features as she glanced across to the streak. "Fast enough?"

The impossible man laughed as he nodded slowly in agreement. "You saved my life."

"Don't sound too surprised." Alicia smiled. Climbing to her feet slowly the young woman glanced down at the metal before them, it has most definitely been a close call.

Rising up beside her, the streak seemed to stare at the metal as well. The flames causing light to reflect off the golden bolt attached to his chest. "I would have moved eventually."

Alicia smiled as she turned back to face him. However, the streak's eyes appeared to have once again met Iris's. The couple continued to stare at each other intently, before he disappeared in a gust of wind.

Alicia remained frozen in her spot for a few moments before she slowly wandered back towards Iris and the injured window washer. Iris seemed to watch Alicia in a daze.

"You saved him!" Iris exclaimed as she watched Alicia wander over to the injured man. "The Streak!"

Alicia bit her lip as she wrapped an arm under the washers shoulder. Pausing, the young woman turned to Iris. "Could you give me a hand? This man most likely has two broken ribs."

Rushing forwards, Iris looped the man's remaining arm over her shoulder as she began to aid Alicia pull him off the ground. Taking one step at a time, the two began to walk the man back out of the alleyway and towards the edge of the cordon.

"Alicia?" Iris reiterated once more. Feeling heavy eyes watching her, the young woman continued on walking regardless. She didn't want to have gotten involved with this impossible life again, she had made that as clear as she thought she could have when she said goodbye to the Streak at Andy's funeral. It was for the best. Alicia bit the inside of her cheek as she relished in the adrenalin the moment had brought, but then if it was so bad why did it feel so good?

"Alicia!"

"Hmph?" The young woman commented as she glanced briefly across to Iris, her mind reigned in from her reverie.

"You cant just ignore this, you saw him!" The young woman exclaimed as they continued to lug the window washer forwards.

"I know" Alicia commented simply, her eyes turning back to the cordon and spotting 'Officer tight pants'. The Policeman seemed to be angry at the two women, however his features suddenly softened as he realised they were both struggling to carry the window washer forwards. Calling over two fellow men, the office made his way forwards.

"What did he say?" Iris questioned, her eyes alight with curiosity.

"Nothing, he didn't say anything." Alicia stated simply, her mind just wishing the barrage of questions would be over soon enough.

"I think you're lying."

"Are you a reporter or something because you're really grilling me here!" Alicia retaliated with a small amount of spite. Iris seemed slightly taken back as they stopped walking. Slowly the officer came to a halt before them, breaking the young women's intense gazes as he slowly took the window washer away from their grips.

"The ambulances have arrived." The officer stated simply. Alicia glanced off to the side as she noted the presence of the large ambulances. Nodding in acknowledgement, Alicia stood straighter, her head inclining as she began to walk off.

"Wait-"

"Iris!"

Alicia continued to walk off on her own. Her head only turning back briefly to ensure that the enthusiastic woman still wasn't following her. Instead, Iris appeared to have been caught by Detective Thawne, his arms wrapped around her elbow tightly as he began to pull her away in the opposite direction. Iris seemed to watch Alicia closely as she slowly ducked under the police cordon. Turning away, Alicia submerged herself back into the crowd, one thought constantly ringing through her mind.

What on earth had she gotten herself in to now?


	10. Chapter 10 - The Favour

**Chapter 10 – The Favour**

Autumn had officially claimed the city as the sky burned a deep orange colour due to the rising sun. It took longer to become lighter in the mornings, the days were growing ever shorter and more layers were required than usual to keep the bitter cold out. However, unlike usual the city seemed eerily quiet. As the light of the rising sun shimmered across the tall towering buildings of glass, it highlighted the cities weakness. Amongst the tall buildings was a plume of black smoke, rising from the building which had been bombed that very night.

Walking through the streets, Alicia stared at the smoke mutely as she considered the night's events. Deciding it was too dangerous to enter, the fire department had just secured the lower floors and allowed the fire to burn itself out. Alicia hadn't got much sleep after she had returned home, especially considering that she had completely forgotten about Monica. The young woman felt her cheeks flush a deep red as she glanced across to the woman walking beside her. Monica seemed lost in her own world as she also stared at the damaged building from their position on the sidewalk.

Turning her tired eyes to Alicia, Monica moaned. "I need a coffee."

"I have to go to work." Alicia stated as she also stifled a yawn. "I am lucky I still have this job, I'm not throwing it away now for a cup of coffee."

"Come on, Shellbucks is literally around the corner. I'll buy?" Monica fluttered her eyes as she seemed to turn a shade of green, her hand hovering near her temple as she groaned again. She had definitely had a little too much wine last night. After Alicia had returned home and realised she had left Monica at the bar, the young woman had to pull herself from the comfort of her bed once more to retrieved Monica. Only by the time Alicia had got to the bar, Monica had been passed out over the counter.

"Fine" Alicia stated half-heartedly as they began walking towards the familiar logo of the large coffee brand. "If it makes up for me abandoning you last night."

"Speaking of which-" Monica dragged out the sentence, her eyebrows wiggling, "Where did you go last night? Because you left after that guy and I thought-"

"No Monica. I went Home." Alicia lied as she glanced across to her friend too quickly. Monica rolled her eyes as she shook her head slowly.

"So you just decided to rob a bar of their first aid kit while you were at it." Monica stated sarcastically as she looked at Alicia with an accusatory glance. "Because although I may not remember much, I do remember that."

"I can't help it I have a thing for first aid kits." Alicia joked, although her attempt to brush the conversation off had instantly failed.

"Alicia if you miss it so much why don't you just start again? You practiced medicine for years I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to get back in to it." Monica suggested, her hands digging in to her coat pockets.

Alicia ignored the question as they stopped before the coffee shop. Disappointingly however the door was locked shut and the lights turned off. There was no familiar bustling queue of commuters waiting for their morning buzz but instead a sign on the door that simply stated:

'Closed due to water leak'

"Well shit." Monica sighed as she pulled her hand through her fringe. "What am I going to do now?"

Alicia turned, her eyes scanning the street. Across the busy road of traffic appeared to be another coffee shop poised on the corner. Its walls painted a light cream colour while a large sign hung above its door. Nudging Monica in the side, Alicia gestured to the shop across the street.

"Depends if you could survive drinking a coffee from there rather than a big brand." Alicia smirked.

Monica sighed as she glanced back at the shop behind them. "I need a coffee, I'd do anything right now. Let's go."

"Consumerism at its finest." Alicia mumbled to herself as she skipped to catch up with her friend.

Crossing the street, the young women made it to the second coffee shop in no time. It was a lot larger than the branded Shellbucks, it even had an outside seating area which filled the corner of the street with the smiling faces of morning commuters. Submerging themselves through the main entrance, Monica dashed for the front till. Alicia meanwhile lingered behind, her eyes glancing across the walls. Pieces of modern art mixed with the interior, while the high windows sent streams of sunlight across the room, highlighting every corner and bathing it in a warm glow.

Spotting a menu, Alicia picked it the cream paper up lightly between her hands. "Jitters" she mumbled quietly. Placing the menu back on the side of the till, Alicia allowed her mind to wander once again.

In all honesty the young woman was surprised she hadn't heard of this place before. It seemed Central City still had mysteries and locations for Alicia to explore, even after living in the city for most of her life. Allowing her eyes to fall, the young woman wandered further in to the shop as she approached Monica. She appeared to be evaluating the choice of coffee on offer, her fingers drumming the counter endlessly. Shaking her head in amusement, Alicia leant with her back to the counter.

"Are you going to pick a drink already?" Alicia questioned as she glanced back towards the entrance where another couple had wandered inside.

"Give me time woman!" Monica accused as she narrowed her eyes. Alicia sighed as she took a moment to glance at the time on her phone, it was getting close to nine and she needed to be on time this morning.

"Can I have an espresso please?" Monica announced presumably to the barista. Checking her phone one last time for messages, Alicia bit the inside of her lip. "-and Alicia what are you having?"

Alicia slipped her phone into her pocket quickly, her head tilting to the side as she turned to face Monica and the Barista. "Ill just have a-" Alicia paused, her mouth slightly ajar as she recognised the woman from last night. Iris.

"Hi." Iris stated simply, her bright eyes locked on to Alicia's.

Frowning Alicia swallowed the dry lump in her throat as she continued. "Can I just have a hot chocolate please… to take away…. Thanks" Alicia announced as she turned and headed back towards the door.

"Hey wait!"

Alicia paused as she turned back to Monica and Iris. The barista had since left her position behind the counter and was now standing before Alicia, her eyes narrowed. "Listen I want to apologise for last night."

Alicia raised an eyebrow inquisitively as she remained silent allowing Iris to finish her sentence.

"I know I reacted stupid and I am really sorry about that. But I was excited, I hadn't seen him like that before and you had just saved him. Not many people believe in the streak." Iris paused as she shook her head slightly, obviously realising that she was slipping in to it again. Composing herself, Iris tilted her head towards Alicia.

"I guess what I'm trying to ask is whether we could start over… pretend that it never happened?" Iris finished, her hands wrapped inwards on themselves as she fiddled with her nails nervously. Alicia tilted her head as she considered the young woman before her. She had only reacted how Alicia had when she had first seen the streak, inquisitively, excitedly… only her reaction hadn't gotten any of her friends killed.

"Alicia?"

Pulling herself from her reverie, Alicia smiled softly as he extended her hand outwards. "Alicia Norris, and you are?"

"Iris West"

"Nice to meet you Iris" Alicia responded, however even she had to admit it sounded a little robotic. "I would love to continue to chat, but would you mind finishing up my friends order? Only I am late for work."

"No problem" Iris smiled as she turned and headed back to the counter.

Supressing the urge to sigh in relief, Alicia slowly wandered back next to Monica who seemed to be carefully evaluating Alicia's every step. "What was that about?" Monica hushed as she glanced across to Iris who was busy preparing the drinks. Alicia shrugged innocently as she smiled.

"We met last night, she was asking how I was."

"I know you're lying" Monica sighed. "But I won't pressure."

"That's why I love you." Alicia smiled as she patted her friend on the back.

"Here you go" Iris announced as she turned back to the counter with two takeaway cups in her hand. "One espresso and one hot chocolate."

"Thankyou" Alicia stated as she wrapped her hand around the warm cup. Feeling the heat sink through her skin, the young woman sighed.

"How much?" Monica asked as she began to rifle through her bag for her purse; rattling of keys faintly filling the air.

"It's on the house" Iris smirked as she rubbed her hands against her apron. Monica raised her eyebrows as she nodded slowly, her eyes glancing to Alicia as she wandered off slowly leaving the two women alone.

Alicia waved over exaggeratedly to Monica. Turning back to Iris, Alicia glanced between her the hot chocolate and Iris. "Are you-"

"Consider it the apology." Iris smiled.

"Thanks" Alicia returned to warm smile, her hands raising her cup upwards in a small toast. "I'll see you around?"

"Sure" Iris nodded before turning away to serve the next waiting customer. Turning away from the counter, Alicia brought her drink to her lips as she slowly took a sip. The chocolate slipped down her throat easily, warming her from the inside out.

Allowing her eyes to glance around the room once again, Alicia's eyes widened as she almost choked on her chocolate once more. Sitting at one of the high tables in the centre of the room was Barry and Detective West. Both seemed to be staring at Alicia with intrigue as they continued to mutter between themselves.

Acting as if she hadn't noticed them, the young woman turned and headed towards the door where Monica waited patiently. Hugging her friend tightly, Alicia glanced the clock on one of the walls, her eyes widening as a result. "I really have to run now."

"Sure thing" Monica smirked as she caught sight of Barry behind Alicia. Winking Monica stepped to the side of the door allowing Alicia to pass.

Running out the door, Alicia submerged herself into the cold air once more. Clutching her drink tightly between her hands, the young woman turned to head down the street when she heard a familiar voice call out once more.

"Alicia!"

Alicia sighed as she stopped rather reluctantly in her steps. Turning back to face the coffee shop, Alicia spotted the familiar Barry Allen hanging half out the door. Noticing she had stopped, the young man jogged forwards, a large smile filling his features as his cheeks burned slightly red from the bitter wind. Gesturing for them to continue walking, Barry walked beside Alicia as she slowly headed in the direction of her work, all the while sipping on her drink.

"And what gives me this pleasure?" Alicia asked with a smirk, Barry mirrored it as he shrugged.

"I'm here to let you know that… despite that I said, they're going to arrest you-"

Alicia's heart skipped a beat as she felt the blood drain away from her face. "What?"

Barry grinned the widest smile Alicia had seen, his eyes alight with joy and mischief as he began to laugh loudly. "You should have seen your face!"

Alicia rolled her eyes as she ignored the flutter of her heart at the sight of the man's smile. She barely knew the man before her, yet already they had both seemed to have found the foundations for a potential future friendship. "Shut-up Allen."

"In all seriousness though-" Barry paused as he composed himself from his laughing. "I might need to call upon that favour."

Alicia nodded mutely as they two came to the edge of the sidewalk. Glancing either way, Barry and Alicia began to dash across the street, Barry's hand gently resting on Alicia's back as they weaved through the heaving traffic. Reaching the other side Alicia took another long sip of her hot chocolate, the temperature burning her tongue and causing it to feel numb. Shivering away the sensation, Alicia glanced across to Barry.

"Oh the favour?" Alicia teased as she played with the cup in her hands. "Do you need someone taken out?" She whispered, her eyes alight as she teased the man before her.

Barry seemed to shake his head slowly, a small smile on his face as he stared ahead deep in thought.

"Hey?" Alicia questioned as she noted Barry's absent mind. "What's up? I know my joke was a bad one-"

"What time do you finish tonight?" The young man suddenly asked as his eyes snapped back to face Alicia. Biting her lip, the young woman seemed to consider the question, her mind fighting hard to resist the urge to needlessly blush.

"I finish at about five thirty why?" Alicia smiled as she finished up the rest of the hot chocolate. Damn it was good. Spotting a nearby trash bin, Alicia slowly wandered towards it.

"I work at the police station-" Barry began as he slowly followed Alicia forwards.

"I know Barry" Alicia smiled as she threw the empty cardboard cup into the bin. "It's how we met."

"Oh yeah, well if you could come by there as soon as you finish work id appreciate it. Just say to one of the guys at the door that you're there to see me in the forensics lab and they'll show you up. I need to ask you something." Barry finished, his hands pushing deep into the pockets of his black coat.

Mirroring his actions, Alicia also shielded her hands away from the harsh cold which filled the air. Her mind reeling from Barry's proposal, what on earth did he need her to do which couldn't be asked in the middle of the street. Shaking away the thoughts, Alicia nodded regardless. "Sure thing, Barry."

"Thanks!" Barry sighed. Content, the young man waved his hand as he turned and began to head back towards the coffee shop leaving Alicia halfway on her journey to work. Turning the young woman continued her walk through the bustling streets, her mind no longer focused on getting there as quickly as possible, but now focused on working out what possible favour Barry Allen might require from her.

* * *

Alicia glanced down at her phone as she continued to pace outside Central City police station. Biting the inside of her lip, the young woman kept glancing to the tall building before her. Passer-by's sent wayward glances as the Alicia continued with her internal battle. She wasn't usually nervous, well, scratch that, she was nervous especially when it came to confrontations. At the end of the day, the last thing she wanted to do was let someone down.

Alicia sighed in frustration as she turned and began to head up the steps to the front of the building. In some ways she didn't even know why she was nervous, but she had somehow during her boring day at work thought up some stupid scenario where Barry would ask her to do something she just couldn't do.

Reaching the doors, Alicia sighed. She was late and she had some explaining to do. Opening the door slowly, the young woman peered curiously around the lobby. It was a lot warmer than the cold air outside of the building. Feeling the warmth seep into her skin, Alicia tucked her loose hair behind her ears as she moved forwards.

The lobby of the station seemed to be relatively empty. Except for a main reception in the centre of the room, there was little other furniture to fill the large empty space. Slowly walking forwards, Alicia relished in the sound of her heeled boots hitting the white marble floor, the echo bouncing across the walls.

Behind the desk in the centre of the room, a young officer stood upwards abruptly from his position. His eyes slightly wide at the sight of Alicia slowly wandering forwards. Confused the young woman glanced across to a clock on the side of the wall. It was only six o'clock in the evening, although it was already dark enough for the street lamps to turn on outside, she wasn't one hundred percent sure why the man's reaction to her presence was so pronounced.

"Good evening." The officer stated as he reached upwards and pulled the hat off from his head. Holding it across his chest, the young man smiled a large grin.

"Hi" Alicia paused as she approached the officer. He was tall and lean, staring at Alicia with deep green eyes. Smiling, the young woman glanced around to make sure that he was speaking to her. Although the room was empty, she could easily be mistaking-

"I am speaking to you, no need to check." He smirked as if reading her mind. Alicia supressed a blush as she turned back to face the officer who slowly ran a hand through his dark hair. Reaching the edge of the desk, the young woman rested her hands on to the edge, clasping tightly at the glass surface with clammy hands.

"My name is Oliver. Can I help you?" the young man continued.

Alicia stared with her mouth slightly agape, did all the officers who worked for the force look as if they had just walked straight out of a television show?

Recovering herself from her reverie, the young woman smiled, "I-uh here to see Barry? Barry-"

"Allen" Oliver smirked, placing his hat back upon his head the young officer picked up a nearby phone and began to punch in a few numbers. "He said to expect you. I'll just let him know that you're here."

"Thanks" Alicia smiled as she began to drum her fingers across the surface of the counter. The soft tapping also echoing rather annoyingly around the room. Ceasing the movement of her fingers, Alicia tilted her head at the clock.

"It's really quite, I thought this place was usually-"

"Heaving?" Oliver finished with a smirk, nodding slowly the young officer settled back down in to his chair, the phone pressed against his ear. "Most of the officers who have to stay the night have left to get food."

"Oh" Alicia muttered in response, her mind failing to come up with topics to keep the awkward conversation ongoing.

Oliver suddenly sighed, placing the phone back down before turning to glance to one of the monitors on the desk. Tapping away at the keyboard, the young officer seemed confused before turning back to Alicia. "I'm afraid Mr Allen isn't responding, he was here a few-"

As if on cue the door behind them burst open, sending the cold chill from outside into the warm room. Suppressing a shiver, Alicia turned to face the silhouette of a young man who jogged forwards. Clad in his arms were two big cardboard boxes of pizza while a small plastic bag clattered with the sound of glass bottles. Walking in to the light, the man lifted his head upwards to face Alicia, a large grin filling his face.

"Sorry I'm late." Barry stated simply as he approached the young woman. Gesturing to the pizza balanced on one arm, the young man smirked. "I got pizza?"

"I'll accept that apology easily" Alicia laughed as she slipped the boxes off Barry's arm and in to her own. With his other arm free Barry quickly swapped hands of which he held the plastic bag.

"So Elevator or Stairs?" Barry teased as he began to lead Alicia over towards the corner of the room.

"Elevator-" Alicia responded without hesitation. "-No need to burn off the calories of the pizza just yet."

Barry nodded in agreement as he called the elevator. Standing before the bronze door, Alicia stared at her reflection through the metal, her hair seemed to have gone a little runaway during the short journey through the lobby, the long curls which usually held their shape had instead begun to flatten.

With a soft bell sound, the elevator doors opened breaking Alicia's makeshift 'mirror'. Following Barry through the doors, Alicia frowned at the slight close encounter the elevator seemed to put her in. The walls being mirrored allowed the young woman to see the same expression of Barry's face. Alicia struggled to re-angle the pizza boxes to provide them with more room, however the attempt seemed utterly pointless.

Coming to a sudden stop the doors opened again allowing Alicia to leave the cramped conditions. However the young woman froze as she took in her surroundings. The lobby they stood in emanated a strong and powerful feeling. Flawless marble floors housed a simple minimalistic black and white pattern which blended with the large oak staircases. Detectives and Officers rushed by in and out of a small office area nestled between the large staircases, never once casting a glance in her direction.

Wandering forwards slowly, Alicia noted on the wall beside the elevator was a large golden statue. The statue appeared to be of a collection of men and women standing tall, a large eagle behind hem splayed it wings outwards as it seemingly protected the emblem for Central City police. Three words engraved around the image helped portray the sense of power the art obviously wanted to emanate.

"Truth, Liberty and Justice" Alicia muttered as she stared at the tall silhouettes in the golden statue. "Huh. Fancy, my work place has nothing like this in the lobby."

Barry laughed as he shuffled over and stood beside Alicia, also staring at the tall statue on the wall. "Maybe a little too fancy? How is the museum anyway?"

"It's busy, just because Snart attacked it doesn't seem to have stopped visitors, in fact I wonder if it's increased the numbers-"

Barry laughed as he raised his spare hand stopping the young woman's ongoing ramble. "No Alicia- I mean how are you doing there?"

Nodding slowly in realisation, Alicia turned away from the statue as she slowly followed Barry across the lobby and towards one of the oak staircases. "It's boring. I don't know if it's something I can do for the rest of my life. That's why I stopped working at the theatre after all, I thought the increased wage might have been enough to keep me going at the museum though."

"Yeah you said you used to work at the theatre." Barry noted as they slowly began to wander up the stairs. "How long did you work there for? Was it your first job or?"

Alicia hesitated as she bit the inside of her lip, her eyes wandering around the room as she slowly began to pick up her pace. "A long time. Too long to count." She stated simply in response.

"This was my first and will probably be my last job" Barry added as they reached the top of the staircase. Turning the two began to pace down a long corridor.

Ceasing at a large metal door, Barry yanked the sliding door to the side revealing his lab. Alicia gawped as she slowly walked forwards, the first thing which struck her was the view of Central City. The large window panes spread along the centre of the room, giving an almost panoramic view of the centre of the city.

"Pretty sweet right?" Barry grinned widely, his face creased up in pure excitement.

"This place is amazing" Alicia muttered, however she paused as she turned back to Barry. "Your use of the term 'pretty sweet' does not do it justice!"

Barry laughed as he fumbled nervously about with the plastic bag. Walking further in to the room, Alicia noted the various vials and liquids which stood on stands around his office. The smell of chemicals filled the air ever so slightly, however the stench of pizza was slowly overriding it. It was a good smell.

Approaching a clear desk, Alicia placed the pizza on the table before continuing her adventure around the room. Slowly the young woman wandered towards a large board, its surface appeared to have a couple of pieces of paper attached to it. Ceasing before it, Alicia tilted her head. It appeared the paper listed pieces of information regarding the bombing which had occurred that night.

"That's supposed to be confidential!" Barry exclaimed half-heartedly as he placed the bag on the table. Reaching inside the young man pulled free a couple of bottles of beer, his hands working at the caps as he gradually pulled them off. Wandering over, he passed Alicia a bottle as he also leaned back and stared at the board before them.

"It's about that bombing last night." Alicia commented as she clinked her bottle against Barry's, the sound resonating through the air. Staring at the image of the building on fire before her, Alicia studied the image closely, beside the picture was a small scrawled piece of writing, 'no bomb parts found'.

"No bomb parts found?" Alicia questioned as she glanced across to Barry, the young man quickly finished his swig of beer. "What does that mean?"

Barry turned back to glance at the door to the lab before leaning in to Alicia, "Basically, I found no signs of a bomb ever being there. No accelerant, no metal pieces nothing. In a fire you can sometimes at least find the thing that started it, it's the same with a bomb."

"So what it's as if…" Alicia paused as Barry watched her closely with intrigue, his face full of what appeared to be excitement, "-as if the room exploded by itself?"

Barry grinned as he nodded slowly, "Exactly"

"You seem way to excited by this, I would have thought it would have been a forensics team's worst nightmare" Alicia murmured as she slowly began to unbutton her large autumn coat, Barry tilted his head in consideration as he slowly took Alicia's coat from her shoulders and wandered across to the room to a coat stand.

"It's both a nightmare and a wonder." Barry announced as he slowly walked back over from the coat stand, his hands rubbing together.

Alicia nodded as she turned back to continue staring at the crime tree. Bringing the beer to her mouth, she took a small sip. Although Alicia hated the taste of beer, she didn't want to appear rude especially considering Barry had obviously gone to a small effort.

"So there was a file missing?" Alicia read out loud as she pointed to one of the pictures attached to the board. Glancing across to Barry, she watched the young man skip closer to the desk.

"Yeah." Barry stated as he hovered over the pizza. Opening the box, a large amount of vapour rose instantly in to the air, releasing the smell of pepperoni through the air. Alicia approached the young man as she took a large slice of the pepperoni pizza. Alicia gasped as she almost dropped the slice, the temperature of the dough close to burning her skin.

"This is boiling, it's as if it just came from the oven!" Alicia exclaimed as she took a small nibble of the stringy cheese. "Where did you get it from?"

"Not far. I ran there and back." Barry smirked as he wandered back to the front of the board, leaning against the desk the young man positioned himself next to where he had left his beer. Following Alicia nudged the young man in the side.

"Thank you for this, you didn't need to."

"No problem, I figured you wouldn't have eaten so I grabbed some pizza and beer, everyone likes that right?" Barry asked honestly, his eyes wide.

"Sure they do!" Alicia lied a little unconvincingly, her eyes wandering around the room and away from Barry. Taking a sip from her beer she turned her attention back to the board. "So the file?"

"Well it took some time, but we found out the file which was missing from all the cabinets was for a Betty, she used to be a military bomb expert but then from what I understand she quit due to a traumatic event." Barry muttered between eating his slice of pizza.

Alicia paused eating her own slice. It sounded like an all to similar event to her own past, quitting a job that you've done for so long all due to one simple unavoidable event, an event which could have gone either way. Shaking her head, Alicia glanced across to Barry. "Do you think this Betty was the one who stole it?"

"Most likely." Barry responded as he finished his slice and crossed his arms over his chest. Alicia sighed as he looked back to the board.

"I feel sorry for her."

"Huh?"

"Well it must have been something tragic to have quit your job over." Alicia began, "maybe she just wanted to erase every trace of her ever doing it, of ever existing."

"Why would she do that?" Barry asked, his hand clutching at the bottle of beer as he took another large swig. Alicia fiddled with the hem of her work blouse, her legs crossed as she balanced on the side of the desk.

"Perhaps she is running from something." Alicia theorized, "Whether that's running from herself or something else is another matter."

Barry seemed slightly taken back as he stared at the board once again, his eyes narrowing in on all the clues he had already gathered. "Maybe you're right."

"I'm right? Please Barry I'm drinking beer and eating pizza, I have no idea what I'm talking about" Alicia finished with a swig of her own bottle of beer.

"No" Barry raised a hand as he stepped closer to the board, placing his beer bottle on the desk. "She attacked a building with little presence inside-" Barry pointed at the picture of the skyscraper attached to the tree. "-Even then she only killed one person, which could have actually been an accident, the large explosion could have been made to draw attention away from the small break in to the room full of files." Barry's mind appeared to be in overdrive as he finished off his slice of pizza, grabbing a pen which rested on the bottom of the board, the young man began to scribble down his theory.

Alicia watched in avid interest as he wrote, however as the pen moved across the board it seemed to wobble ever so slightly. Turning her interest to the wobble, the young woman noted a small piece of paper extending out from behind it.

"Maybe you should get a job as a detective" Barry announced as he finished writing. Knocking Alicia from her reverie, the young woman looked away from the piece of paper and turned her attention back to Barry.

"I wouldn't be a good one, remember the whole train thing-"

"Good point" Barry agreed as he pointed a finger to the air.

The two laughed aloud for a few moments. Barry slowly walked back over towards the pizza, picking up another slice as he dragged out two chairs and gestured Alicia to sit with him. "Anyway- enough detective work, were meant to be enjoying this pizza! Not working!"

Alicia chuckled and wandered over slowly, deciding to ignore the mysterious piece of newspaper clipping sticking out from underneath the board. Settling in to the desk chair, the young woman did a small spin before crossed her legs and settling in front of Barry, her eyes narrowed. "So, Mr Allen, tell me about yourself" Alicia mimicked an interviewers tone as she crossed her arms over her torso.

"Well-" Barry began taking a swig from his drink, "I work here at the station, forensics specialist, always late-"

"Have you always lived in Central City?" Alicia interviewed, her bottle extending outwards as a pretend microphone.

"Yes, but then they reckon at least 53 percent of people end up dying in the city they were born. So it's probably considered the norm." Barry stated as a matter of fact, however his cheeks suddenly burned a slight red his eyes coy. "I went all nerdy again. My bad."

Pushing Alicia's 'microphone' away, the young man tipped his own bottle backwards allowing the liquid to trickle past his lips once again, "What about you, Miss mysterious Norris?"

"Well" Alicia sighed as she reached forwards and picked up another piece of pizza, her hands struggling with the stringy cheese, "I was born in Central City but my father used to travel to work. He worked for a large company in Coast City, I can't remember what it's called for sure though now. But my family decided to make things easier for everyone and to move to Coast City." Alicia paused as a dry lump formed in her throat, "But one year my father never returned from work. He went 'missing', the police only found a CCTV image of him climbing into an unmarked car. So his case was closed soon after." Alicia smiled as she took a bite of pizza, her eyes returning to Barry after she had begun staring off into the distance. "It's like he never existed. But I'm here so that's not true." Alicia smirked as she took another bite of the gooey cheese.

"I'm sorry to hear that" Barry commented simply, his eyes were full of sympathy and hurt, almost the same kind of look she had seen in his eyes the day he visited the hospital.

"It's okay" Alicia smiled, "He left us willingly, besides I was young, very young when he did it. But I still remember snippets of him. You don't just forget the people who leave your life."

Barry nodded in agreement slowly before Alicia decided to continue.

"Anyway, my mother couldn't remarry because my father technically was missing, but she got together with a man named Robert. He loves to travel and didn't want to stay in coast city. So before I started high school we moved back to Central City, Robert and my mother always planned that when I finished school they would return to travelling. So they did, and that's why I've stayed here ever since. Alone."

Barry tilted his head sympathetically as he reached outwards and took Alicia's hand, his thumb tracing the back of her palm as he smiled. Alicia relished in the comfort for a few moments before pulling her hand away and grabbing her bottle of beer. "So what's your actual story?"

Barry placed his beer down as he forced a small smile, however the look in his eyes resonated a great loss. Locking gazes with Alicia, she could almost imagine the weight which rested on his shoulders. "Well, I was born here. We were happy, my father was a well-known doctor and my mother was just… well an amazing woman."

"Was?" Alicia pried as she took a small swig of her drink, Barry leant back in his chair as he nodded slowly, tears welling in his eyes.

"One night, my mother was murdered. My father was accused and therefore sent to prison for her death." Barry stated in the simplest of ways, his eyes seemed to swell with unfallen tears as he recalled the incident. Alicia bit her lip as she shuffled her chair forwards, closer to the young man.

"I was so lost. But Joe took me in-" He paused as he turned back to look at Alicia, "Detective Joe West. He and Iris took me in to their home. They've looked after me ever since. As I grew up I decided I wanted to join the force, mainly because of my mother's murder but also because Joe became such a role model to me."

"Well-" Alicia smirked as she placed a hand on Barry's shoulder, hoping that it would provide some comfort. "I think you made the right choice. This lab would probably be nothing without your weird and wonderful facts!"

Barry laughed as he nodded slowly in agreement. "Well… that's my story!"

"Can I ask you a question?" Alicia pondered as she scooted her chair back to its original position. Barry nodded in confirmation as he seemed to prepare himself. Unsure as to whether ask it herself, Alicia continued regardless.

"You said you joined the force because of your mother's murder. So… what you investigate your mother's murder? Even though it was closed?"

Barry nodded mutely as he stared straight at Alicia.

Alicia held the gaze as she tilted her head slowly, "So you don't believe your father did it?"

"No, he's innocent and I know it." Barry finished with determination.

Deciding not to pry any further the young woman nibbled at the end of her pizza crust before placing it back down in to the box. Barry meanwhile appeared to be starting another slice, god did he eat a lot. With the aim to break the gloom mood which hung over the lab, Alicia laughed to herself.

"Wow Allen, you eat so quickly, how much does an average dinner cost you?" Alicia bounced her foot up and down as she watched the young man demolish his third slice.

"On average a lot. But it's okay! I do a lot of jogging." Barry brushed off the comment with a smirk as he continued to eat the slice.

"To stay that skinny, yes, you obviously do. I meanwhile gain like a stone after eating one slice"

"That's a little exaggerated"

"Yes but it's to make a point!"

Barry laughed as he finished his pizza, coughing to himself slightly Barry reached for another beer in the plastic bag. Alicia meanwhile continued to sip at her first bottle, ignoring the foul taste which slipped down her throat.

"So… I am going to be straight forward here, the favour?" Alicia questioned after a brief period of silence reigned over the couple.

"Oh yeah" Barry sat bolt upright as he moved his chair closer, his eyes glancing back to the open door for a brief moment. "I need to ask you to do something for me."

"What would this be?" Alicia teased as she took another small swig of her beer. Something told her by the pitch of the man's tone of voice she was going to need it.

"Iris told me about what happened last night."

Alicia refrained from spitting her beer out everywhere. Choking slightly, the young woman took a couple of moments to recover before looking back up to Barry. "Wait.. what?"

"About how you 'saved' some kind of streak?" Barry suggested with a confused tone. Shrugging the young man glanced back around the lab as if someone was watching them. Content, he turned back to Alicia who continued to stare dumbfounded.

Barry raised his eyebrows waiting for a response, causing Alicia to moan silently to herself. "Not you as well. Was this all just to question me about what happened?"

"No… No…" Barry smiled as he rolled his chair across the room to another desk, settling before a computer screen, the young man shook the mouse waking it from 'sleep' mode. "You see Iris has this blog, she tracks his movements and writes about him and how he supposedly saves everyone."

"She does?" Alicia questioned as she stood upwards and wandered over slowly. Her mind kept flashing back to the blog that she had favorited on her own computer over a week ago. He couldn't be talking about the same one, could he?

"Yeah she posts on it a lot. But… I'm worried, Joe is worried. This is dangerous, who knows what enemies that Streak thing has! I think she's making herself a target for people." Barry muttered as he pulled up the website. Alicia paused as she stared at the screen, it was exactly the same blog that she had found weeks ago.

"Yeah I see where you're coming from." Alicia murmured half-heartedly as she leant inwards to the screen, her eyes tracing the familiar banner. "Does she put her name to it?"

"No it's an anonymous blog, but it's only a matter of time. If she's passionate about something she usually ends up doing it." Barry sighed as he leant back away from the screen, his hand running through his hair as he glanced across to Alicia.

Turning to meet his gaze, the young woman raised an eyebrow inquisitively, "Where do I come in then? What can I do?"

"Well since last night she seems kind of attached to you, not in a weird way or anything. She didn't stop talking about how you saw him and believed as well, I think she seemed excited at the prospect that there was someone else she now knew who believed in this…"

"Impossible man?" Alicia suggested with a small smile to herself.

Barry mirrored her reaction with a grin, his eyes alight. "Impossible man."

"So how can I help though? I don't understand?" Alicia snapped back into her interrogation mode, her arms folding across her chest as she leant against her hip. Honestly, she still had no idea where she came in to this whole plan of his.

"I saw you in Jitters earlier, that's when I realised. Alicia, I was wondering whether you could talk to Iris, tell her not to write the blog." Barry asked, his eyes wide as if he was pulling a puppy dog face.

Alicia gawped as she turned in a full circle, her hands splayed wide. "Have you not tried talking to her?"

"Both Joe and I have tried, she didn't listen."

"Then what makes you think she will listen to me!" Alicia exclaimed as quietly as she could, her eyes glancing back across to the sliding metal door of the lab.

Barry sighed as he stood upwards from his chair, his arms resting on Alicia's shoulders as he reigned her attention back in on the conversation. "Because out of all of us, you're the only other person who has seen him. You were there that night with her! She might listen to what you have to say a little more than us."

Alicia groaned as she threw her head to the side, "Fine. I'll try. But I can't guarantee that I can make her stop writing it."

"I know, but I'll be grateful if you try." Barry smirked as he squeezed Alicia's shoulders reassuringly.

"It's nothing really, considering what you did for me." Alicia pushed Barry's arms aside as she wandered back across the room to where the pizza remained, her hand slipping in to the box as she retrieved another slice.

Following Alicia over, Barry stared down at his phone as he frantically tapped away at the screen. Coming to a halt, his thrusted his mobile over to Alicia. "Here is her number"

Placing her slice of pizza back into the large box, the young woman glanced across to Barry.

"How do I say I've got it?" Alicia queried as she pulled her own phone out of her pocket and copied the number across in to her own phone book. The screen was so bright her eyes began to ache, she was definitely beginning to get a headache from the situation.

"Say you asked me for it, that you wanted to talk to her about the streak, ill back you up." Barry suggested, his own eyes returning to the pizza box as he retrieved another slice.

"But I haven't even got your number?" Alicia smirked as she finished copying Iris's number and turned her attention to copying Barry's.

"If you wanted it you only had to ask" Barry teased as he took another large mouthful of pizza. Rolling her eyes Alicia shook her head slowly.

"Shut up Allen, it'll be useful to have a cop on the inside"

"For what you're diabolical schemes?" Barry accused as Alicia handed his mobile back. Nodding slowly the young woman leant against the desk once more.

"Maybe." Alicia pouted. Kicking her legs through the air, the young woman returned to her bottle of beer, fiddling with it between her palms as she glanced around the room slowly, her eyes finally settling back on the forensic technician. "So now that the whole favour thing is out of the way, tell me another fact about you Barry Allen? I bet it is nowhere near as interesting as mine!"

Barry seemed to snort as he turned to face Alicia, his eyes alight as he shook his head slowly. "Mine is definitely going to be better than yours!"

"Really? Well... Fire away then!" Alicia teased as she pretended to lean inwards with anticipation. Barry laughed as he placed his beer back on the desk. Slowly he began to wander across to the centre of the room, above him was a large skylight which sent moonlight cascading across the floor. Reaching upwards, Barry grabbed on to a long metallic chain, clasping it tightly in his hands.

"I was struck by lightning in this very spot." He stated as a matter of fact, his face not faltering for a single moment.

Alicia burst out laughing as she considered the moment hilarious. However, the amusement quickly diminished as she noted the stoic stare the young man preceded to give her from across the room. Swallowing away a dry lump, Alicia raised her eyebrows. "You're kidding me? Right?"


	11. Chapter 11 - The Blog

**A/N - Hello All! ****I don't usually write author notes but I feel as if I need to now. I would like to thank everyone for the follows, favourites and support in the form of reviews for this fiction. It is my first OC fiction and I am really enjoying writing it. However I am writing a note to apologise now for the slow update times and the lack of usual quality in my writing, unfortunately I have been sick for a while now (pushing on two months) so my writing has taken a hit. But I wanted to update as I am really enjoying writing this story and although this may not be the most exciting chapter yet, it was one of the hardest ones for me to write in terms of Iris's character.**

**While I am writing this note I want to take this time to answer a question which I have been asked by quite a few readers via pm or a review. (Spoilers) Alicia is a metahuman, she will discover her powers VERY soon they just need to be ... jumpstarted. I haven't seen any other fiction with powers like hers before so they are original and have already been hinted at.**

**Thanks for your time and ENJOY.**

* * *

**Chapter 11 – The Blog**

The smell of burning rubber filled the air of Central City as the streets came to life, people joyous after their first day of the weekend, free from any work obligations. From her position on the sidewalk, Alicia wandered forwards with her head hung low and hands buried deep within her pockets. It was another cold night for the city, the chill sent Goosebumps prickling all over Alicia's skin at the smallest of movements. Coming to a gradual halt, the young woman gently pressed the button for the lights at the crossing opposite Monica's new favourite coffee shop. Jitters.

Waiting for the image of the man to turn a luminous green, Alicia sighed deeply; her breath floating away into the night sky as a faint mist. Above her the stars burnt bright with their dying light, flickering majestically down to Earth. Feeling her phone vibrate against her leg, the young woman pulled it free from the thick cotton coat which stayed tightly wrapped around her.

Staring at the screen, Alicia quickly adjusted her appearance in the blurred reflection. Her hair was tied up into a high bun, a few lose long curls of her auburn hair hanging free to highlight her face. Content, Alicia proceeded in sliding her finger across the screen, quickly tapping a few quick digits for her passcode to unlock the phone. Immediately the message flashed onto the screen.

_Barry A-_

_So how is it going? Thanks for doing this for us Alicia, it really means a lot._

By 'us', Alicia knew that the young man was referring to Detective West who was subsequently Iris's father. Assuming that Barry was sitting with the older man awaiting her response, she shook her head with a small smile. At the same time, the traffic crossing in front to her came to a halt as the red light turned to a luminous green. Walking forwards slowly, Alicia began to cross the street, her fingers tapping the surface of the screen and she formulated her reply.

_Seriously Barry, I haven't even made it to Jitters yet! _

_Besides it isn't a problem at all, I owed you. Although if you hadn't of brought the pizza and beer last night I may not have been persuaded as easily._

Reaching the other side of the road, Alicia pressed send and slipped her phone back into her coat pocket, her hand encasing it as she tried in vain to warm her fingers. Shuffling forwards with her hands deep in her pockets, the young woman approached Jitters. The lights of the shop were still on, splaying a warm glow across the surrounding sidewalk.

Slipping past the chairs and tables arranged outside the shop, Alicia approached the glass door entrance. Peering inside, Alicia allowed her eyes to glaze over the scene before her, failing to notice Iris at all. Frowning the young woman pulled free her left hand, drumming her fingers rhythmically across the cool surface of the glass.

"Iris?"

With no response, Alicia sighed softly. After Barry had asked for the favour last night, she had immediately sent Iris a text message, asking if she wanted to meet up for a coffee and a proper introduction. Alicia figured if she used her new friendship with Barry as an excuse, she would be able to get a meeting with Iris sooner rather than later. Although, Barry seemed to think the opposite, explaining that any connection with this 'Streak' would capture her attention.

Easily enough Iris has replied fairly promptly. Alicia was unsure of the meeting at first, especially considering Iris had suggested meeting her after hours at the coffee shop, but Barry had been adamant that Iris had done it before and neither of them would get in trouble. The last thing Alicia needed at the moment was more trouble.

A brisk and unusually strong wind caused Alicia to shiver, reigning her in from her reverie she ceased her drumming on the glass door. Feeling a sense of apprehension seep through her, Alicia turned around abruptly, her eyes narrowing as she peered into the darkness of the street before her. Alicia noted the tall shadows which loomed across the road as the side lamps failed to bathe the whole street in light, a problem which didn't use to occur in Central City before cost cutting was introduced. Tilting her head, Alicia took a step forwards; her head dipping as she nuzzled her face deeper into her cotton scarf.

With a sharp screech the metal door behind her opened wide, causing the young woman to practically jump out of her skin as she turned to face it. The bright light from the shop highlighted a single slender silhouette and sending it splayed across the floor and on to the previously dark street. Alicia frowned in embarrassment to herself as she slowly wandered towards the recognisable stance of Iris West.

"Are you going to stand outside the whole time or?" Iris lingered on the end of the sentence as she gestured with a short nod of her head to enter Jitters.

Alicia wasted no time as she slowly wandered forwards, her eyes shifting between Iris and the darkness. "I think I would rather come in, it's both extremely cold and slightly ominous out here."

"Come in then!" Iris stated over exaggeratedly as she stepped to the side to allow Alicia in.

Alicia smirked as she slipped past Iris and submerged herself into the warmth of the coffee shop. Feeling her cheeks instantly turn a deep shade of red, the young woman pulled her other hand from her coat as she began working away at her scarf around her neck, pulling it free and throwing it over a nearby chair. Turning to face Iris, the young woman raised a curious eyebrow.

"Are you sure you're allowed to have people come in after closing?" Alicia questioned, her eyes shifting around the room to check for any cameras.

"We are the only people here! Its fine! I've done it before" Iris dismissed with a casual wave. Wandering over to the counter, the young woman picked up a microfiber cloth and a towel, slinging them over her shoulder before turning back to Alicia.

"Only if you're sure?" Alicia reiterated as she finished pulling her large cotton coat off, stepping forwards she proceeded to smooth down her green flannel shirt.

Iris tilted her head slightly, her eyes alight with mischief. "Yes Alicia I am sure, if you're really worried-" Iris paused as she tossed the towel across to Alicia, the young woman barely catching it in time before it hit the floor. "-You can help me clean up! Nothing screams girl bonding exercises more than cleaning up!"

Alicia eyed the towel curiously before wrapping it tightly around her right hand. "I don't know, I had some pretty good pizza last night!"

"Barry?" Iris asked as she began to clean down the front counter with the cloth. Alicia wandered forwards slowly, her fingers playing away with the towel wrapped around her right hand.

"Yeah… He invited me over."

"Oh, What for?" Iris smirked, stepping away from the now damp counter she began to clean the coffee machine beside her.

"Nothing really, just to talk. I mean, our first meeting wasn't under ordinary circumstances." Alicia slowly unwrapped the towel as she began to dry the counter Iris had finished cleaning.

"No? How did you two meet anyway?" Iris questioned as she continued to work away on the machine. Alicia paused in her own cleaning as she looked up from the counter to Iris.

"Oh… Just while he was working, at a crime scene." Alicia muttered, Iris raised an eyebrow as she paused in her cleaning to glance across, a smile filling her features.

"Oh yeah…" Iris figured as she nodded slowly, raising a long elegant finger she proceeded to point across to Alicia, "Are you a doctor then? I saw the way you treated that girl the other night?"

Alicia froze at the suggestion. "No!" She answered abruptly, her eyes wide. Clenching the towel tighter between her grip, the young woman frantically searched for an excuse. "I just know basic first aid, compulsory course I had to go on. I was at the crime scene because I was a witness. I actually work in a museum."

Iris raised an eyebrow at the odd response before nodding slowly and turning back to cleaning the machine. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Alicia continued to stray the subject.

"So anyway, we got talking, telling stories… Just getting to know each other. I mean being struck by lightning was pretty tough to try and beat, but it was an impressive drinking story!"

"He told you?" Iris stated suddenly, her actions ceasing as she turned away from the machine to face Alicia.

"Yeah! I didn't believe him the first two times though! I mean, being struck by lightning?" Alicia paused as she raised an eyebrow. It was true, the first time Barry told her she had immediately began laughing at the idea, it was almost unheard of someone being struck by lightning, let alone surviving it practically unscathed.

"Well, that's Barry…"

Alicia paused as Iris turned back to cleaning. She noted that they were slowly slipping away from the main aim of their meeting, but Alicia reasoned that perhaps them bonding and forming the beginning of a potential friendship would only help the situation at hand, making the chances of her convincing Iris out of writing the blog more successful. Because frankly, Alicia could already tell that Iris was strong and determined, and if her father couldn't convince her out of doing something, what chances would a complete stranger have?

Deciding without another seconds thought, Alicia strengthened her resolve and pushed onwards into a slightly more sensitive subject.

"It must have been hard, for you and your family. What with Barry being in a coma for nine months…" Alicia paused as she noted Iris's facial features, she seemed slightly shocked before falling. Tilting her head towards Alicia, Iris stopped cleaning the machine all together, instead electing to throw the cloth to one side.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to push." Alicia apologised feeling as if she had encroached.

Iris shook the apology off before meeting Alicia's gaze. "It was hard, I… I saw him die over and over again. The doctors didn't know what was happening to him. He just kept on dying." Iris moved around the counter so that she was on the same side as Alicia.

Deciding to remain silent, Alicia abandoned the towel she had been using to dry the counter, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"That was the worst part I guess. Not knowing what was exactly wrong." Iris slowly wandered over to one of the cleaned tables, a laptop balanced on its surface. Settling into one of the high red chairs, Alicia followed suit; sitting down opposite.

"I'm sorry" Alicia mumbled, unsure with how to continue the conversation. Perhaps moving it into such a sensitive subject wasn't the best of ideas after all.

"It's fine. Barry is fine now, it's all a thing of the past." Iris pardoned as she smiled brightly, her eyes alight with energy. "It was a surprise though when he first came back, I was half way through a shift here and he just walked through the door without any previous notice. He was up and out the same day!"

Alicia frowned. She understood that at the time, the news of Barry being awake would have been overwhelming, and considering Iris had no prior knowledge of medicine everything would have seemed completely normal and nothing out of the ordinary. Alicia on the other hand had a buried history of medicine, and just because she hadn't been in the game for over a year didn't mean that she had lost all the knowledge she once had before. Now it was easily possible that Iris had simply glazed over the facts of the story, but it was easy medicine to know that a long term coma means no exercise. No exercise means muscle wastage. If anything it means it would have been near impossible, for the young man to have been out of the bed and walking around the same day. Let alone walking almost halfway across the city, from Chubbuck District Hospital to visit Iris at Jitters. Something most definitely smelt fishy.

"Anyway… How was your day?" Iris asked suddenly, dispelling Alicia from her reverie.

"Ok… I guess, I did some shopping with my friend and her daughter. How about you?" Alicia replied, her fingers playing with the hem of her shirt. Iris seemed to consider the question, her eyes glancing across their surroundings. Used cups and mugs remained scattered across the surface of many of the shops tables, chairs splayed off and away in odd directions.

"Busy… like usual" Iris stated simply as she turned back to face Alicia. There seemed to be a glint in the young woman's eyes which wasn't there before, burning beneath her kind exterior waiting to come out.

"When isn't this place busy?" Alicia questioned slightly nervously. The look in Iris's eyes becoming unsettling.

Iris shrugged as she tilted her head. "Closing"

The two laughed briefly before the conversation lapsed into an uneasy silence. It was extremely awkward.

Shifting in her seat, Alicia glanced around the room before meeting Iris's gaze. The woman's eyes appeared to be narrowed suspiciously, her fingers tapping away rhythmically across the surface of the laptop. Opening her mouth to initiate a further conversation, Alicia was surprised to find Iris beating her to it with her own question.

"Okay, Alicia, I'm going to be blunt here- Barry put you up to this didn't he?" Iris stated with exasperation, her fingers ceasing in their tapping as she crossed her arms over the table.

"Excuse me?" Alicia's voice croaked ungraciously, her eyes wide in an innocent manner. She knew exactly what Iris was talking about, but she wasn't about to blow her cover yet. She owed Barry a favour, the least she could do was try to ride out the storm.

"It's about the blog isn't it? You two had your meeting last night and he asked you a favour. It would explain why out of nowhere you want to get to know me." Iris accused, her eyebrow quipped upwards as she awaited Alicia's reaction.

Alicia bit her tongue as she met her determined gaze. She was smart. "Iris, I'm going to be as equally blunt, but I don't have any idea what you're talking about. Last night I learnt more about Barry and his random scientific facts than this… blog?"

"He didn't ask you?" Iris stated bluntly, her eyes falling as she turned her head away in embarrassment.

"Ask me what?" Alicia pushed onwards, her hand reaching upwards and tucking a strand of her fringe behind her ear.

Iris opened the lid of her laptop, her fingers running across the keyboard as she tapped away frantically. Knowing exactly what the young woman before her was searching for, Alicia prepared her next move; her reaction.

"I know we said we wouldn't mention what happened before." Iris paused as she stopped typing and turned the laptop around to face Alicia. As expected, displayed on the screen was the familiar amateur blog that she had seen a week previous, the same blog that Barry subsequently wanted her to convince Iris out of writing. "But, I write about the Streak, about what he does for this city. That's why I wanted to get past the police barrier the other night. Because before then, the Streak was nothing but words on a blog for me. Now I know he's real."

Alicia allowed her eyes to keep switching between Iris and the computer screen, her head slowly nodding. "I've seen this before…"

"You have?" Iris asked slightly dumbfounded.

Pulling her phone free from her coat pocket which remained draped across the chair, Alicia opened up her internet search bar. Sliding the phone across the table, the young woman smirked. "Open up my bookmarks. I know this is going to seem strange, but I started following your blog a week ago. Before I even got to know Barry, you can check the time stamp if you don't believe me."

Iris raised an eyebrow as if accepting a challenge and picked the phone up into her hands. Sliding her finger across the screen, Alicia waited as the woman before her searched through her bookmarks. Taking Iris's silence as a good sign, Alicia continued onwards with her argument and ulterior motive.

"I haven't really commented on any of your posts, but I've been following them. You talk a lot of truth."

"Oh" Iris stated simply as she passed the phone back across to Alicia. "I just assumed that you were here to talk me out of writing it, like Barry has been trying to do-"

"Are you kidding me?" Alicia interrupted, her hands splayed wide. "I think this is brilliant. The city deserves to know."

Iris seemed slightly taken back. Her eyes seemed glazed over as she slowly nodded, a bright smile filling her feature. "He takes no credit for what he does, the least I can do is write a blog. Besides, this gives people hope. Everyone can do with a little hope in their lives."

Alicia nodded in agreement. "I mean, it could be dangerous. But, people take risks every day to help others. This blog is no different." That's when it hit her. Like a lightbulb appearing above her head, Alicia figured out a plan to finally convince Iris out of writing the blog. By the look on her face, the woman before her didn't really accept the danger which comes with writing the blog. Something which Barry had also confirmed when he told Alicia of the ways in which he had already tried to convince Iris. Therefore, Alicia figured that if Iris didn't believe in the danger, instead of anticipating the real deal, why not orchestrate a situation under their own control?

Iris laughed, bringing Alicia back from her reverie once more, "You know it's nice to have someone on the same page as me when it comes to this blog, someone who also believes in the Streak."

Alicia placed her phone back into her coat pocket. Her arms crossing over her chest as she settled further into her chair. Iris seemed to be deep in thought, her fingers playing with her nails as she frowned in consideration.

"But, why did you start following my blog a week ago? I thought that you said that the other night was the first time you had ever seen him."

Alicia froze at the question. Under Iris's gaze she felt her wall beginning to crumble. There was nothing stopping her about the first time she had met the Streak. In fact, telling the young woman before her would probably help with their potential friendship. But when the end goal was supposed to be convincing the woman out of writing the blog, somehow Alicia figured that telling her more stories about the impossible man's life saving endeavours wouldn't help the situation at hand. "I never said that was my first time-" Alicia figured as she shifted in her chair, her hands reaching for her scarf.

Iris smiled as she tilted her head to the side. "First time? So you have met him before then?"

"Uh-" Alicia choked as she stood upwards from her chair and off to the side. Wrapping her scarf around her neck tightly, the young woman fiddled with her coat.

"Alicia, you can tell me." Iris sighed as she closed the lid of her laptop and stood up from her chair also.

Throwing her coat haphazardly over her shoulders, Alicia began to back away towards the door. Her hands reaching for her pockets. "I- I'm sorry, I need to go-"

"Alicia" Iris paused, her mouth closing as she shook her head. Alicia figured that the young woman had realised by now that pushing her for answers wasn't the way to get them, and instead she needed to wait for the full story.

Figuring that was Iris's train of thought, Alicia sighed as she stopped backing away for the door. "Look, it's a story for another time, trust me, it's a long story and you still need to clean up and close. If I stay and tell you, then it's going to be gone midnight before you're finished here."

Iris nodded slowly before extending a hand outwards. Accepting it, Alicia shook kind-heartedly as she sighed with relief.

"Okay, we will meet up again though, I'll send you a message."

"You have my number!" Alicia joked half-heartedly as she opened the door to the shop. "Sorry I couldn't stay to help clean."

"Its fine, I'll finish soon enough." Iris shrugged as she stood beside the door. "Bye Alicia."

"Bye." Alicia muttered before turning and submerging herself into the cold air of central city. Hearing the door close behind her, Alicia began marching through the streets back in the direction of her apartment. Shaking her head frantically, Alicia played with her phone in her pocket. He mind reeling from the meeting.

A sudden gush on wind behind her caused the young woman to turn abruptly, just in time to catch the door to Jitters slowly closing again. Frowning, Alicia took a step back towards the coffee shop before hesitating. It was probably nothing. Dismissing the moment, she turned back and continued on her way towards her apartment.

With her head working overtime, Alicia bit the inside of her lip. She had learnt so much during the short meeting she had with Iris. The fact Barry had supposedly walked out of hospital the same day as waking up from a nine month coma, and she had formulated a way to finally get Iris to cease writing her blog. She would need the help of a few others though, namely Barry and the Impossible man.

Keeping her head low, Alicia pulled out her phone and quickly formulated a text for Barry. He was after all the reason she was here.

_Hey Barry_

_Just finished up with meeting Iris. I have a plan, but I am not sure you're going to like it. When are you free to meet?_

Pressing send, Alicia slowly slipped her phone back in to her coat pocket. Continuing with her walk, Alicia frowned. Glancing around her surroundings, the young woman was pleased to note the frantic bustle of traffic on the road and the lack of pedestrians walking down the sidewalks. However, the same sense of aboding from earlier rattled in her stomach causing the young woman unrest. It felt as if she was being watched.

Turning her attention back to the tall buildings which lined the streets, Alicia briefly caught sight of a silhouette looking over the edge of one of the residential buildings. Halting in her steps, Alicia did a double take, her eyes narrowing on the roof of the residential building she had glazed over seconds ago. However unlike before the figure was no longer there. Assuming she was going crazy, Alicia continued walking along the street.

Falling back on to the conversation she had with Iris, Alicia sighed inwardly. She didn't like the way their meeting had ended. She slipped up again, revealing that she knew more about the impossible man than she had initially let on. She was supposed to be convincing the woman out of writing about the hero, let alone providing her with more writing material for her blog. But, providing her plan gains the support it needs and works, then maybe she won't owe Barry a favour anymore.

"Well…" Alicia muttered aloud as she buried her chin into her scarf, "That could have gone better than it did."

Before Alicia could say another word however, a strong hand slapped across her face constricting her mouth while an arm enclosed around her waist. Wriggling in defence, Alicia frowned as everything slowly began to blur.


	12. Chapter 12 - Metahumans 101

**Chapter 12 – Metahumans 101**

The grip around Alicia seemed to tighten as the air whipped through her hair, chilling her to the bone. Initially she assumed that she was being attacked, especially when an unknown hand clamped around her mouth and supressed her surprised yelp. However her assumption had quickly changed, she was moving faster than she could comprehend; the world blurring around her into simple streaks of light. The grip around her was warm and comforting rather than cold and brash, the hand which had originally been clamped around her mouth now gone. To say the least, Alicia had a small suspicion as to who was carrying her through the streets of the city.

Well, in all honesty it wasn't a small suspicion, for it could only be one person… who else could run faster than anything she had seen?

Nevertheless despite her new knowledge as to who was carrying her, Alicia had never ceased in her pathetic struggling; her shoulders shaking disjointedly as she tried in vain to gain leverage. Eventually the shaking paid off as Alicia finally gained the freedom of her left arm. Taking a deep breath, the young woman sharply pushed her elbow backwards; feeling it dig deep into the abdomen of her 'attacker'.

With a satisfying grunt from the man carrying her, everything came to an abrupt halt; the world around her returning to its usual focus. Feeling her stomach fly to her mouth, Alicia stumbled forwards into a brick wall, her body continuing with the momentum she had just lost.

"What was that for!"

Yep, it was most definitely him.

Turning from her half collapsed position against the wall, Alicia composed herself as she faced the impossible man. Taking a deep breath, she forced a kind smile onto her features; her head tilted to the side as she took in their surroundings. They were standing in a small damp dark alleyway, leading off from one of the busier streets in Central City. A large dumpster lined the end of the alleyway, a shadowy figure hunched amongst them; luckily for the Streak, the figures attention seemed solely fixated on the contents of said dumpsters.

Turning her attention back to the mysterious hero before her, Alicia narrowed her eyes. Small veils of light trickled through the cheap curtains of the apartments above, falling across them both as they stood surrounded by darkness. Despite the lack of clarity, she could still make out the small smile pulled across his features.

"What was what for?" Alicia answered innocently, returning to the question at hand. A similar smile to the impossible man's befalling her features.

The Streak seemed to tilt his head, his body arching as he appeared to over exaggerate at clutching his side. "The well positioned elbow?"

"Oh I don't know-" Alicia laughed innocently, her hand flapping outwards as if batting the situation away. The Streak seemed to relax slightly at the notion, his shoulders falling. However, in a snap of her fingers Alicia's face fell; her features hardening as she propelled herself off the brick wall and took a step closer to the impossible man. "-maybe because you just kidnapped me!"

The man in red seemed to jump slightly at her reaction, despite the smirk which filled his blurred face. Extending one gloved hand outwards, he gestured to the building they stood at the foot of. "I was giving you a lift home."

Alicia shook her head frantically in defence, her voice too high pitched to sound serious. "That was not giving me a lift home. Giving someone a lift would be stopping and waving and saying something along the lines of… well I don't know, 'Hey Alicia, fancy a lift back to your apartment'."

The impossible man laughed, his voice echoing through the alleyway as it seemingly reverberated off the narrow walls. "That's what I did!"

Feeling an infectious smile fill her own face, the young woman crossed her arms over her chest as she fought hard not to laugh. "That's not what you did and you know it. I thought I was being attacked!"

"Well if that's how you fight back when you think you're being attacked then you stand no chance." The Streak paced before her, his hands on his hips as he shook his head in mock disappointment.

"Excuse me?" Alicia questioned, her hand clenching into a fist.

The impossible man stopped pacing and turned slowly to face her, his arm gesturing to her left arm. "That elbow didn't even hurt. I thought you needed something, that's the real reason why I stopped."

"I'll show you fighting back!"

Alicia stepped forwards, throwing all her power into a simple punch. However, sadly the streak ducked before she could even start the swing. Confused Alicia paused, her head turning to the side as she spotted the man leaning cockily against the wall she had just been standing by.

"Too slow."

Alicia frowned as she prepared herself once more for a lunge forwards. "More like you're too fast to make this fair."

"Do you think someone who wanted to attack you would make it fair?" The streak questioned, Alicia could only imagine his eyebrow was quipped upwards under his mask. Nodding slowly in agreement to his reason, Alicia raised her hands in mock surrender stepping forwards slowly.

"Okay I give in." Alicia sighed, her arms falling from her 'surrender'. Nodding, the impossible man stopped leaning against the wall. "You're awfully chatty today, what happened to the mysterious silent hero façade."

The man shrugged in response as he glanced each way down the alleyway. "I guess you could say I'm having a good day."

"At least that's one of us… Hey what's that?" Alicia pointed to a small silver glint on the ground beside his feet. Turning, the Streak bent down to investigate. Sensing her time to strike, Alicia lunched forwards once again, however before she could comprehend once more he had disappeared.

Out of nowhere, a gust of wind surrounded her; two arms wrapping around her body pulling her in unnecessarily close. Sighing with frustration, Alicia allowed her head to fall backwards, where it rested against the Streak's shoulder.

"You need to work on your fighting. I mean you just used the oldest trick in the book, way too predictable." He stated slightly close to her ear. Alicia closed her eyes and smiled as she settled into the grip around her, her mind reeling for a smart comeback. But unlike usual she was distracted, her mind focused on the warmth which came from the… hug? Could she call it a hug? Feeling her mind wander, Alicia allowed it. It was nice to have someone holding her for a change, after all she hadn't had someone hold her like he was in such a long time. In fact- wait- feeling her cheeks flush a deep red the young woman began to shuffle in his grip. Was there a reason he was still holding her?

As soon as she had thought it, the couple were once again moving faster than anything she had experienced before, the world around her spinning and causing an obscene amount of nausea to rise in her throat. Closing her eyes Alicia prayed for the motion to end, which it eventually did. Their deceleration was more gradual than before, the two slowed down until they were at a complete stop; the sensation of arms around her disappearing.

With her eyes still closed Alicia frowned, she missed the warmth the arms brought; not that she would ever say that to his face. But with the warmth missing, it made Alicia notice that the wind had changed, seemingly having grown stronger and colder compared to where they had been standing before. Shifting her feet, the young woman wobbled violently; discovering that there wasn't much beneath her feet to support her.

Alicia's eyes flew open immediately in response. She was no longer standing in a dark cramped alleyway, but instead Alicia was balanced on the top of a hip high railing which happened to be on the roof of one of the tallest buildings in Central City.

Gasping Alicia did probably the worst thing she could have done. She looked down.

Looking downwards, Alicia gained a sudden and acute sense of vertigo as the world below her seemed so small and tiny, the people walking on the street below barely recognisable. Feeling her body tilt forwards with her direction of sight, the young woman frantically waved her arms in large circles, propelling her backwards. She figured she would be screaming if the air hadn't disappeared from her lungs without her consent.

Unfortunately by avoiding falling forwards Alicia didn't avoid falling backwards. Embracing gravity like an old friend, she began floundering towards the ground with the grace of a large fish. Clenching her eyes shut, the young woman braced herself for the hard ending her journey would come to.

But the bracing was not needed. Alicia was surprised to say the least when she landed in the Streak's arms once again; one arm wrapping around her legs while the other supported her back and head. Opening her eyes, the young woman finally gasped as she glanced up to the impossible man; a smirk pulled tight across his lips.

"I win?" He asked simply, Alicia still in his arms. Glancing around them, the young woman varied her odds in continuing the pointless rebellion she had started. Or rather she tried, as her mind still couldn't defer itself away from reminiscing in the comfort she received from being in his arms.

Coming to a realisation of what she was thinking, the young woman shook the thought away defiantly. She was supposed to be reducing her involvement with the Streak, let alone encouraging the strangeness to continue. Placing a hand on the impossible man's shoulder, the young woman kicked her legs upwards and free off his grip.

"Fine. You got me, I don't work out." Alicia blurted as she fell from his arms and stood upright. Smoothing her coat down, the young woman turned her attention to her windswept hair; barely half of it remained in the original bun. Sighing, she reached upwards pulling the hair tie free; allowing her auburn hair to hang in loose curls.

"Next time don't pick a fight with a Metahuman." The Streak stated simply as he slowly walked to the edge of the roof, his back to Alicia.

Frowning with intrigue, Alicia followed silently; standing just behind the impossible man. Looking out across the cities beautiful skyline, she fought in vain to try and control the state of her hair, the cold wind proving to be too strong to maintain a normal look.

"A what now?" Alicia questioned out of the blue, her eyes never leaving the lights of the city. Hearing the Streak grunt in confusion as a response, she followed the question up with an explanation. "You said a 'Metahuman', what's that supposed to mean?"

Disappearing in a gush of air once again, the young woman didn't bother to turn to look as she felt his presence shift to behind her. "Alicia, I didn't think you wanted to be this involved."

Staring at the city before her, the young woman tilted her head to the left slightly; just enough to see a blur of red from her periphery vision. "You're right, I didn't. I said goodbye to all of this at the funeral, I said goodbye to you. But, somehow the world is still finding ways to put me back into this whole-" Alicia swung her arms wide as she articulated, her eyebrow quipping. "-situation."

The impossible man's voice increased in pitch as it vibrated through her. "You were the one at the explosion the other day, are you sure you didn't actively seek it out?"

Feeling a spark of frustration, Alicia curled her fingers inwards to a fist. "I was there for a different reason, if Iris hadn't of used me as a way to get past the barrier and then practically dragged me to the foot of the building, I wouldn't have seen you again."

"But you did, and as a result you saved me. You didn't need to do that."

"But I did need to. You were so obsessed with Iris, you were in a different world! Besides, you saved my life twice if I remember correctly, so you still have one life saving obligation in the bank as far as I'm concerned. Besides, if you didn't want me this involved how did you know where I was just now and why pick me up?"

Alicia paused as she remembered the silhouette watching her from the roof of an apartment building. "Were you stalking me from the rooftops?"

The Streak seemed slightly taken back from the comment. "No. I was seeing your friend in the coffee shop. You beat me there so I had to wait until you had finished, then I saw you as I was running by and decided to give you a lift."

Alicia was going to make another smartass comment, but the words froze on the tip of her tongue as she frowned inwardly. "You- You went and saw Iris?"

"Yes." He echoed back, turning around abruptly Alicia faced the impossible man; his mossy green eyes watching her closely.

"You didn't?" Alicia murmured slightly unbelievably, her mouth ever so slightly ajar. Vibrating his head, the Streak's features became blurred and distorted.

"I… did?" He uttered back slightly unsure.

"Oh why did you do that?" Alicia exclaimed her hands flying to her head. Running her fingers through her knotted hair, the young woman gritted her teeth in frustration.

The impossible man simply stared at Alicia's reaction. "She's writing about me, she needs to stop."

Alicia allowed her hands to fall as she figured she was over reacting. Instead the young woman returned to staring out across the city, her head tilted to the side. "Yes I know she is, I'm working on that situation now, but… you are most definitely not helping by seeing her."

"I was trying to talk her out of it."

"And did it work, or did she just go all fangirl on you?"

"Fangirl?"

"It didn't work did it?"

The Streak remained silent causing Alicia to smirk.

"She ignored you and just questioned you didn't she?"

Ignoring the accusation, the Streak answered back with his own question. "What were you doing there?"

Fighting away the need to face-palm, Alicia turned back to the impossible man. "I was also trying to convince her not to write the blog. Someone asked me to do it, luckily for you he also thinks it's too dangerous for her to be doing this. I have a plan to make sure she won't write about him ever again, but you most definitely haven't helped by seeing her. So… can you just not see her again? Please?"

"A plan?" The Streak pressured, completely ignoring Alicia's pleads.

Sighing, the young woman walked away from the edge of the building; her feet dragging along the pebble roofing of the skyscraper. "I need to check with my friend, Barry first. If he agrees, then I'll tell you about it because it is going to require your help. So… let's revert back to my original question you tried so very hard to avoid, what… is… a… Metahuman?"

"Friend?"

Ignoring the impossible man, Alicia continued with her flow. "Listen, Streak... man… I know you're trying to do what you did to Iris to me, but by now I think it's probably safe to say I am well and truly too involved in this whole situation to change it. So perhaps to increase my safety in this 'other world', you should just come clean and tell me everything there is to know about it. Otherwise I'll be like… a lawyer who doesn't know a thing about law, just waiting for the moment to be exposed and fail. Like… Mike Ross in that show, Suits!"

Alicia turned back to the Streak once again as she tilted her head to the side, her eyes wide.

The impossible man nodded slowly before stepping closer to Alicia. "Good show."

Smirking the young woman nodded in agreement, her eyes alight. "I know right!"

Realising she was getting distracted from her original aim, Alicia dropped her cheery façade and raised her finger. "Metahumans?"

"Three questions." The Streak bartered in response. His arms crossing over his chest as he puffed it outwards.

Tilting her head in consideration, Alicia accepted the deal with reluctance. "Fine. Question one… What's a Metahuman?"

Sighing the Streak began to pace slightly, his head tilting side to side as he formulated his definition. "The term Metahuman… is a word used to describe people like me."

Alicia raised her eyebrow in confusion, she had never seen any other blurs flying past her. Biting the inside of her lip, Alicia's mind began to work overtime… what if every unusual gust of wind was someone like the Streak? A person who could run quicker than a speeding bullet. "People like you? So what there's more super… duper… fast running athlete people?"

The Streak laughed as he shook his head slowly, "No- Not necessarily."

"So what kind of people are there?" Alicia questioned, her heart hammering in her chest with anticipation. If the impossible man could ran faster than she had ever seen, then what other kind of things were out there?

The Streak on the other hand seemed to have dropped his reluctant attitude. Alicia noted that he almost appeared to be excited at the prospect of telling someone about what he had done for the city. If so… then why did he never accept any of the credit?

Pulling Alicia from her reverie, the impossible man began explaining; the excitement the young woman had detected in his stature evident in his voice. "It can be anything. So far I've faced… someone who can control the weather, someone who could replicate other versions of himself and a man who could control and become poisonous gas."

Alicia gawped in awe, her mind struggling to imagine a man who could turn into a gas. Picking up on another section in his explanation, the young woman frowned as she stepped closer to the Streak. "You say you've faced them?"

The impossible man shrugged as he looked down on to Alicia, the two of them standing close. "Well, when they developed their abilities it didn't discriminate against criminals."

Alicia's grin grew as she stared at the Streak with awe. "So you fight them, that's why you became the-"

"Impossible man?" he finished with a grin, his face remaining a blur.

"There is nothing wrong with that name." Alicia retaliated almost instantly, her cheeks blushing at her abruptness. Shaking the thought away, the young woman asked her final question. "What do you do with them when you win? Do they go to a… Metahuman rehab?"

Shaking his head the Streak chuckled, "Either their powers are restricted or they're locked up. Either way the city is safe again."

Then it hit her, like a ton of bricks. The man before her was a hero, stopping the Metahumans who didn't have a liking for the law. Additionally, the man before her saved a window washer a couple of nights ago from falling to his death from the result of an explosion. Alicia gasped as she connected the dots, if he wasn't there originally to save the window washer… what was he there for? Well, Alicia had just been told… to fight a Metahuman.

"Wait… the other day you were at the explosion… It wasn't just to save that man from falling was it?" Alicia murmured, her eyes watering as images from her evening with Barry flashed before her eyes.

_They were standing in Barry's office chatting away and eating pizza. Leaning against the forensic scientist's desk, Alicia smiled to herself as Barry walked over so that he was beside her. "Basically, I found no signs of a bomb ever being there. No accelerant, no metal pieces nothing. In a fire you can sometimes at least find the thing that started it, it's the same with a bomb."_

_"So what it's as if…" Alicia paused as Barry watched her closely with intrigue, his face full of what appeared to be excitement, "-as if the room exploded by itself?"_

_Barry grinned as he nodded slowly, "Exactly"_

If a man could turn into a gas, then did that mean that a woman could… Alicia snapped back to reality as she met the Streak's gaze once again. "You're after Bette Sans Souci… She's a Metahuman."

The impossible man nodded in agreement, his eyes locked on to Alicia with a look which she suspected as surprise. "I was there to help anyone from the explosion. It's only since that I've learnt it was caused by a Metahuman. Bette Sans Souci turns whatever she touches into a bomb, she was after a file that night." He explained bluntly, his sentence lingering as he followed it up. "How did you know?"

It was around about then when the secondary wave of realisation hit Alicia. The case was still an open one, their only clue being the missing file which Bette had taken that night. In simple terms it meant that the police were still investigating the bomb, meaning that they were inadvertently searching for Bette; a dangerous Metahuman. Alicia's heart paused as her eyes widened, Barry was in danger. "Barry… " Alicia muttered as she started reaching for her phone in her pocket.

"Oh god- Oh dammit. I need to stop him.-" Alicia pulled her phone free as she met the gaze of the impossible man, her eyes wide. "-Barry works for the police and he's investigating her. W-What if he helps the police track her down and…. I don't know she blows Barry up while he takes her fingerprints?"

The Streak raised his arm upwards as he pushed the phone away from Alicia, his stature relaxed. "Its fine, he will be fine- I've got it covered."

Alicia allowed a small sense of relief to flood her senses. "You have her in rehab?"

Smiling the impossible man shook his head. "No but I'm working on it. I tracked her down once today already, I'm sure I can do it again."

Although the relief was there, the young woman couldn't shake the feeling of worry which now rested within her. What if this whole situation had happened sooner with Bette and the police were already in danger, all that needed to change was something so small to cause a completely different outcome. Boom, a butterfly effect. So what's to say that a situation like this wouldn't happen again in the future?

Knowing she had already surpassed her question limit, Alicia asked the one question she actually didn't want an answer to. "How many are there?"

The Streak seemed put off by the question, his head dipping as he answered with honesty. "I don't know, some are only just discovering what they can do."

Feeling her heart hammer faster inside her chest, Alicia pushed onwards. "So what anyone can be a Metahuman?"

Trying to lighten the situation, the Streak placed a hand on Alicia's shoulder; obviously reading the sense of apprehension which rattled through her bones. "Are you?"

Laughing the young woman pulled away from his touch. "Pft, If I had powers I would be a danger to society."

Satisfied with the reaction he received, the impossible man mirrored Alicia's laugh. That was until a sharp beeping erupted from his crimson coloured suit. Stepping away from the young woman, the hero wandered off to the edge of the building; his hand pressed against the lightning bolt on his ear as he muttered away to himself.

The impossible man obviously had the whole Metahuman situation under control, especially with the help of a team which seemed to be on hand at all times. Alicia figured that the night the train derailed was probably the time she bore witness to his team, although they were mostly silhouettes she did get a good look at the doctor which had accompanied them; the same woman she had thought she had seen in the bar the night of the explosion. "Abs…" Alicia muttered, the image of the partially obscured identity tag coming to mind.

"I need to go." The impossible man announced as he returned to Alicia, pulling her from the depths of her mind.

Nodding in acceptance, the young woman raised her hands to convey a sense of calm. "Someone to save?"

With a simple nod the Streak turned to run away, however he paused as Alicia took a step forwards; her arm outstretched and catching his own arm.

"It was nice to actually talk to you for once. You're not so bad really… and don't worry I won't tell anyone else about the Metahuman spiel you gave me." Alicia bit the side of her lip as she waited for a response, his back still to her and her hand still latched onto his arm.

Turning slowly, the man nodded in thanks. "Thank you Miss Norris for saving me."

Feeling the need for a joke, the young woman elbowed the hero in the arm once again as she walked past him. "Damn you may run fast but your gratitude is as slow as snail, I saved you two nights ago!"

Smirking the hero tilted his head causing Alicia to rethink her joke. Sighing the young woman glanced around them, she was still standing on top of the tallest building in Central City with no way down except to break in to whatever business owned the building. Deciding she would rather avoid another potential alteration with the police, the young woman sighed. "Okay ill shut up with the jokes- but… I hate to ask, can I at least get a-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the hands which had embraced her earlier in the night had returned and the young woman was flying through the city once more. Although the journey was shorter than before, and in a blink of her eye she was standing once again in the centre of her apartment.

"Lift home…" Alicia finished eventually, her eyes glancing across to the window on to the fire escape.

As suspected, the curtains were blowing up into the room as the cold air of the city gushed into her apartment. Wandering over slowly, she reached upwards; her hands clasping on to the wooden frame as she forced it down hard. Hearing the clasp click into the place, the young woman turned her attention back to glancing out at the city before her.

The sky was darkened with what looked like an oncoming storm on the horizon, the clouds swirling with a broil of forces which she couldn't ever comprehend. Although, with the discovery that there were more people with powers walking the streets, Alicia didn't think she would ever understand the world she lived in again. All she could do was make sure that those around her didn't become involved either. Namely Monica and little Jess.

Taking her phone from her pocket, Alicia placed it on the window ledge. Glancing up to draw the curtains, the young woman frowned as she thought she saw movement in the apartment across from her. For years, the apartment on the other side of the alleyway remained empty; it's insides bare of any furniture, and always dark and musty; providing an ominous feel to the building opposite. However, unlike usual the thin wispy curtains which lined the windows appeared to be moving with what looked like the silhouette of-

A sharp buzzing from her phone ceased Alicia's trail of thought. Reaching down, she scooped the small phone into her hands as she slid her thumb gently across the screen, waking it from its slumber. Least to her surprise there was a message from Barry on display.

_Barry A-_

_If you're free tomorrow you could come by the station. I know it's a Sunday but I have a couple of things I need to close on. I haven't got the bombing case now, one word: army. I'll tell you about it when you get here._

Placing her phone back down on to the window ledge, Alicia glanced back out to the apartment across from her. The movement of the wispy curtain had since ceased, and the shadows no longer formed the shape of a silhouette. Perhaps like earlier on in the night, the young woman was misinterpreting changes in light and becoming too suspicious of things with a simple explanation. Although her knew knowledge of the rogue Metahumans which walked the streets didn't help in alleviating said suspicion.

Deciding that a chapter 'Metahumans 101' was probably best left from her new 'grief diary' prescribed to her by Monica, Alicia instead settled for a good night's rest. After all she did have quite a few things on her mind which would need to be thought through before she met with Barry.


	13. Chapter 13 - Belly Burger or Mama Chows?

**Chapter 13 – Big Belly Burger or Mama Chows?**

_The city was burning. Tall plumes of smoke rising in to the sky._

_Alicia spun in an erratic circle, her head aching as her vision remained blurred. She had to run away, as far as possible from the bodies, she couldn't take the pressure anymore. _

_"Wrinkled skin, shallow breath. Wrinkled skin, shallow breath." _

_Stumbling forwards the young woman fell onto her hands and knees. Her strength was failing her as her knees quaked with a weakness she hadn't felt before._

_"Old man. Young man. Old man. Young man." Supressing her tears the paramedic slowly pulled herself to her feet once again. Mark was only thirty years old… how did he suddenly age to look beyond eighty? His skin looking as fragile as paper while his chest barely managed to rise and fall._

_A strong sense of nausea washed over Alicia as she stopped moving forwards. Spotting a nearby lamp post she grabbed onto it tightly as she used it for support. With the brief moment of calm, Alicia noted that people had started to stare at her as they passed, their eyes lingering on her chest._

_Following their line of sight, the young woman cried a loud as she realised her green paramedic shirt was stained a deep crimson colour. Bringing her hands downwards she touched the material gently, her eyes widening as she noted the blood was still warm and sticky in some places. _

_Pulling away at the shirt and white tank top underneath, Alicia lifted it upwards to take note of her abdomen. For the amount of blood on her clothes, the wound itself was barely a deep scratch… all it would need was a dozen stitches. Confused she dropped her shirt, her eyes barely focusing as the world around her faded at the edges._

_"Shit…shock…" _

"NO!" Alicia cried as she sat bolt upright from her bed. Feeling her chest constrict tightly, the young woman frantically began grasping at her pyjama shirt as she scrabbled away to reveal her abdomen beneath. Looking down at her skin, Alicia sighed as her finger slowly traced a white scar mark across her stomach; a permanent reminder of what had happened that night.

At least Alicia could gain some sort of relief that the final dream was the end of the flashbacks. Sadly though it would probably just start in a loop all over again. The young woman sighed as she fell back into the comfort of her bed once more, her hand reaching outwards for her phone on the bedside table as she switched it on and pulled it in close.

Closing her eyes lightly once again, Alicia frowned inwardly at the dream. She hated to linger on the night that everything changed in her life, but it was strange that all she could ever recall of the night were the moments leading up to Mark's death and the moments afterwards. Psychologists which had analysed her afterwards had put the memory loss down to dissociative amnesia due to emotional trauma, reassuring her that eventually one day she might remember what happened between the scenes.

Scratching the side of her face, the young woman opened her eyes once again. She didn't think she wanted to remember it at all, for how traumatic was the actual event to make her completely wipe it from her mind? Regardless to say, Alicia remembered everything else which happened up to this day. For example… after finding the lamp post she had collapsed with shock; after running thirty minutes nonstop from the scene of which it happened. Apparently a couple of passer-by's called an ambulance crew for her, she was prioritised due to her own position within the career and the amount of blood which was on her clothes.

A twinge of guilt settled in her stomach, she even blamed herself for that as well. After all she wasn't actually injured and the service's time probably would have been spent better elsewhere.

A series of alerts erupted from Alicia's phone as it rebooted, pulling her from her damning thoughts. Gripping her phone tightly, Alicia brought it close to her face as she read the messages slowly, her mind still waking up.

_Barry A-_

_Hi, are you still coming by the lab today?_

Alicia gasped at the timestamp of the message; it was from two hours earlier. Frantically tapping the screen to reply, she formulated a quick message to send back.

_Yeah sure Barry, I'll come by now. May have accidentally slept in a little too late._

_I don't know about you, but, I haven't had anything to eat yet._

Alicia's stomach grumbled in response to the message. Pressing send she went to put her phone back down on the bed beside her, when it screamed to life again. Another message.

_Barry A-_

_She lives! I haven't had anything to eat, what are you proposing Miss Norris?_

Alicia smirked as she started typing once again.

_I'm not proposing anything… but if you had to answer the following question, which would you pick? Big Belly Burger or Mama Chows?_

Sending the message the young woman didn't bother putting her phone back down, as the reply was received almost instantly. Damn he was quick at typing.

_Barry A-_

_You don't need to get me anything. _

Alicia sighed.

_Just answer the goddamn question. I owe you._

With a sharp beeping, Barry had replied yet again.

_Barry A-_

_See you soon._

"Big belly burger it is." Alicia muttered to herself as she threw her covers off from her body. Shuffling to the edge of her bed, the young woman stood upwards slowly her arms stretching outwards as she yawned loudly.

Grabbing a nearby sweatshirt, Alicia quickly pulled it over her head to protect herself from the chill which rested in her apartment. Frowning, she glanced closely at the thermostat attached to the wall. Her heating had been on all night, why wasn't the place as cosy as it was usually?

Opening the door to her bedroom, Alicia slowly wandered into her living room. It was there where she identified the source of the cold chill which filled the apartment. Raising her eyebrow, Alicia turned her attention to the window which lead to her fire escape. The curtains which were drawn over it were now blowing into the main room.

Padding forwards in her bare feet, she pulled the curtains wide allowing the sunlight outside to flood the room. The window was open, allowing the cold October wind to snake its way inside.

"Didn't I close you last night?" Alicia murmured to herself.

Slowly the young woman traced her fingers around the splintered wooden frame, reaching the top of the window she pushed it downwards, closing the window once again. Pausing, her fingers lingered on the brass clasp which locked it shut. The window was old and needed to be replaced, the clasp itself was weak and could easily be opened from the outside. With the right kind of force in the correct position, a simple bash in the top right corner of the window would knock the clasp free. She hadn't had to use the technique in years however, and only herself and Andy knew exactly what to do to get it open.

Flicking the brass clasp to lock the window, Alicia wandered backwards. Her eyes scanning over her surroundings, looking for any sign of a disturbance or something being stolen. Strangely, at a first glance everything seemed to still be in place.

"Maybe I didn't…" Alicia questioned as she started to doubt her own mind. She could have sworn she had locked the clasp last night, but she theorised she had also thought she had seen a figure across from her in the abandoned apartment. Maybe she had just forgotten to do it after becoming distracted. After all if someone had broken in to rob her, then the laptop which remained positioned haphazardly on her coffee table would most definitely have been the first thing to go.

Walking across to the kitchen, Alicia opened a side door to her bathroom. Stepping into the cream tiled room, the young woman pulled the shower curtain wide as she turned on the flow of water. Placing her hand under the stream, the young woman's arm erupted in goose bumps from its freezing temperature. Pulling away, she wandered back into the main living room of her apartment while the temperature of the water warmed up.

Spotting some letters on the floor at the bottom of her door, Alicia wandered over slowly. Bending downwards she picked the collection up off the mat, her hands lingering on the envelopes as she flicked through.

"Bills… Bills… Bills" Alicia muttered tossing them to the side, however the final piece of mail was in fact a leaflet.

"Self-defence classes." Alicia raised an eyebrow as she read the small print beneath the image of a woman fighting an attacker. "Morning sessions at the Chubbuck Social Centre…. Cost per session thirty dollars, length of session thirty minutes. That's… not so bad I guess?"

Alicia frowned, she didn't usually receive leaflets like this. Instead the distributors just left them in the lobby down at the front of the apartment block; not bothering to hand them out individually. Folding the leaflet up, the young woman remembered what the Streak had said that night.

_"You need to work on your fighting. I mean you just used the oldest trick in the book, way too predictable."_

"That little…" Alicia laughed to herself as moved over to her cabinet covered with pictures. Providing there weren't any leaflets posted through her neighbour's doors, then Alicia assumed that the one she had received was probably posted by the Streak himself.

Hanging off from one of the handles on the cabinet was a small black leather bag, placing the folded leaflet in the top of her bag, the young woman planned to stop by the social centre on her way back to her apartment from seeing Barry. After all, self-defence wasn't a bad thing to learn. That way, when she next bumped into the Streak she could prove him wrong.

Turning to head to the shower, Alicia froze. Spinning back slowly, the young woman's eyes narrowed on the surface of the cabinet which housed most of her pictures of family and friends. Feeling a strange sort of panic rise in her throat, Alicia began rifling through the pictures frantically. Her hands lingering over the frames as she came to realisation that one of them was missing.

"What…" Alicia murmured as she stepped away from the cabinet in confusion. Somehow the image of her and Andy had gone missing, and the young woman was a hundred percent sure that the picture was there when she had got in to her apartment last night. Allowing her eyes to rise, Alicia stared at her startled expression in her mirror. She wouldn't have misplaced it, especially as it was one of her most treasured pictures of herself and Andy.

Someone had broken in to her apartment, it was the only explanation. But the question which worried her the most was why would they break in just to steal a picture?

* * *

October was a good time of the year, it was approaching Christmas and at the end of the month was Halloween, a time when everyone could dress up and have fun without a care in the world. Central City was embracing the Halloween spirit as the 31st of October slowly approached them, shops filled their windows with spooky cobwebs and bloody hand prints; adding an ominous aura to the air.

Staring in the window of one shop, Alicia tilted her head to the side. Ever since she had discovered her picture missing from her apartment she couldn't take her mind off it. After all, it's pretty freaky to discover that while you were asleep in the next room, a stranger had snuck in through a window and was rifling through your stuff. She doubted herself however, as it seemed ridiculous to even consider that someone would break in just to steal an image of herself and her dead friend.

Before leaving, Alicia had taken the time to rummage through her apartment turning it into a mess as she searched for the missing image, but as suspected it was nowhere to be seen and most definitely had not been misplaced. As a result, Alicia was now extremely late for her meeting with Barry as well as extremely unsettled. To mirror her freaked out state of mind, her appearance was shoddy and nowhere near the neat look she usually rolled with. Instead the style she had gone for today, was the 'I'm losing my mind' look, created by throwing on a random selection of clothes which colour clashed and allowing her hair to be wind dried and hang in a slightly frizzy curly state.

Sighing the young woman turned and approached the Police Station across the road, her black handbag tucked under her arm while two paper bags of fast food clashed against her legs. Running up the steps to the police station as quickly as she could, Alicia hoped that Barry was still in his lab as she wouldn't be surprised if he had already left in order to do something else.

Reaching the top of the stone stairs, Alicia nodded to a group of nearby officers who stood out the front of the department smoking cigarettes. The young woman proceeded to submerge herself through the bronze doors of the station and into the main lobby. Striding across the tile floor as confidently as she could muster, Alicia glanced ahead to the main desk spotting Oliver; the officer who had been on duty the previous time she visited. Raising her hand as a short wave, she approached his desk.

Oliver in response seemed surprised and started to smirk confidently, his hand raising as he waved in response. "Off to see Barry again?"

Alicia dumped the two bags of food on the counter as she leaned inwards. "Is that okay?"

Shrugging Oliver gestured to the elevators off to the side of him. "Sure go ahead. I actually know he is in his lab today."

"Ah good." Alicia smiled, gathering the bags of food into her hands again she tilted her head. "Thanks!"

Turning the young woman started to wander off. However her steps faltered, turning abruptly back to the officer, Alicia was surprised to realise he was still watching her closely. Skipping haphazardly back over to the desk, Alicia frowned. Her mind still lingering on the open window in her apartment that morning. "Actually… Oliver, where would I report a burglary?"

Oliver frowned as he stood upwards from his chair, his hands fiddling with a pile of paperwork in front of him. "You could report it here with me? Or you could tell Barry…. Are you okay?"

Noting the concern in his voice, Alicia sighed. "Yeah… It's just, well it's confusing. I think someone may have broken in to my apartment last night."

"What did they steal?" Oliver asked with intrigue.

Alicia felt her cheeks burn as she blushed. "That's the thing… all that's missing is a picture."

Settling back into his chair, the officer before her seemed to shrug. His eyes never leaving her own. "Well… If that's all it was then I'm not sure I would be much help, your case would probably be assigned the lowest priority… are you sure someone broke in?"

Alicia allowed her features to fall. "I don't know…"

Noting the uneasy look she gave, Oliver sighed. "Ask Barry, he's the forensic… I'm just a street cop."

Smiling Alicia turned to leave once again. "Thanks Oliver."

Spotting an elevator door just about to start closing, Alicia sprinted forwards one of her hands extending outwards and she swung a bag of Big Belly Burger ahead. Her action was successful as it became stuck between the doors and forcing them open once again. Sliding forwards, Alicia followed the momentum into the tightly confined space. Stumbling backwards as a result, the young woman fell slightly into a figure which was already standing inside.

Hoping they would both ignore her clumsy action, the young woman kept her back to the figure as she stepped further away; sighing as the doors finally closed.

"You might want to watch where you're going officer."

Flinching, Alicia frowned inwardly. Much to her disappointment, the other occupant of the elevator obviously didn't want to ignore her subtle mistake. Turning around slowly, Alicia's eyes widened in response at the sight of a man clad in military uniform. His eyes were heavy and unforgiving, white tuffs of grey hair stuck out from under his cap.

Opening her mouth in awe, Alicia began to fumble with her words. "Excuse me. It was a mistake, I didn't mean to-"

The man simply raised his hand upwards to an exact precision, batting her excuses aside. "It's fine, I'll just report this incident to your superior."

Alicia tilted her head in confusion. "What?"

All she wanted to do was run as far away as possible from the man which stood before her, he had a dark presence which seemed to suffocate the lift. That, and the fact that whenever someone started asking questions Alicia didn't exactly want to answer, she tended to react badly and as a result run away.

The Sargent before her continued with his rant, his voice gruff and lifeless. "If you were one of my officers you would receive a worse punishment from what this weak establishment would provide you."

That being said, if Alicia couldn't run away from the assault then she would do what every person would do wen backed into a corner. She would fight back.

Feeling a sense of frustration rattle through her bones, Alicia gritted her teeth. This was so not the right day to pick on her. "I could report you for this, treating a civilian with disrespect."

"Civilian?" The man questioned suddenly, his eyes turning away from the doors to look at Alicia; and look he did. Alicia felt as if she as slowly shrinking before the man as he scanned her over with his cold eyes, taking in every detail.

Deciding to give the stranger the same kind of treatment, Alicia cast a judgemental glance across to him before turning to the elevator doors. "Yes, sorry to burst your bubble but I don't work here… Sargent?"

"General-" He corrected suddenly, his voice rattling through her bones. "General Wade Eiling. I can assure you that I will handle your complaint personally Miss?"

Glancing over her shoulder from her periphery vision, Alicia smirked. "Miss Alicia Norris, and fine then please consider this as my complaint: start treating people with some respect and take the stick out from up your ass."

With that the doors to the elevator opened with a soft chime and Alicia marched out quicker than she could ever have moved. Not bothering to look behind her, the young woman passed through the sea of detectives as she made it to the bottom of the oak set of stairs to Barry's lab. Placing a hand on the oak banister, Alicia began marching up the stairs; her eyes still never risking a glance back once.

Reaching the corridor, the young woman slowed her pace as she approached Barry's lab. The two bags of Big Belly Burger leaving a scent trail behind her.

Noting that the large metal door was open, the young woman stepped inside rather hesitantly, her eyes glancing around her surroundings. The lab was as cool as it looked at night, with the panoramic view of the city bathed in the warm sunlight. Stopping beside the forensic's desk, Alicia deposited the bags of food.

"Barry?"

A sudden clang from a cupboard across the room alerted Alicia. Glancing in its direction, the young woman smirked as Barry poked his head out from the room. "Alicia! Hi."

"Hi."

Wandering over to his desk, Barry placed a vial of red liquid into a test tube holder. Like when they first met, the young man was wearing a baby blue jumper and black jeans. "So… How was the walk?"

Allowing her smile to grow slightly, the young woman began to take off her leather jacket. Exposing the brightly coloured blue top beneath. "Barry, it was fine… Sorry I am a little late, but guess what I got as repentance?"

Alicia threw her arms wide as she gestured to the bags of big belly burger beside her, mirroring the actions of which a showgirl does to present a prize on television. "One of them may be a little squashed though…"

"Big Belly!" Barry smiled as he wandered across to the bags and started to rifle through them. "You didn't need to pick me something up."

"Don't be stupid, I'm crashing your work and it's a Sunday." Alicia smiled as she also began rifling through the other paper bag, pulling free her burger and drink. "That whole bag is for you-"

Barry's eyes widened in surprise as he took the bag between his hands and wandered across to his chair, falling back into it ungracefully. "How did you know my order?"

Alicia tilted her head in consideration as she took a small sip from her soft drink. "I remembered from the other night, you didn't stop talking about it. In fact I believe your words were: 'I could really eat a big belly burger classic right now with two portions of fries.'"

Barry laughed as he started eating away at his first portion of fries, his eyes occasionally darting across to Alicia. "I'm surprised you remember…"

Moving around to the spare chair, Alicia threw her black handbag on to the desk as well. She had surprised herself with her own memory when ordering, but she had simply put it down to wanting to impress a new friend. After all she didn't have many of them. "Well it's pretty memorable considering you said that, _after,_ you had single handily finished second box of pizza."

Barry shrugged simply in response. "I can't help it that I have a fast metabolism."

"I wish I had your metabolism."

"No you really don't, trust me."

Alicia began to unwrap her burger from its greasy paper, her fingers delicate as she tried not to spill anything over the forensic's workspace. "So the army eh?"

"Oh yeah, did you see them?" Barry questioned as he began drinking from his own drink.

Alicia scoffed as she shook her head slowly. "Did I see them… I shared the elevator up here with a guy, his manners knew no bounds."

Barry laughed. "What happened?"

Finishing chewing a bite from her burger, Alicia placed it down slowly. "I ran for the elevator and by getting through I accidentally bumped into him. He started saying that he was going to get me punished, and that if I was one of his officers it would be worse than what they would do here! The nerve! So I stuck it back to him."

Barry stopped eating as he placed his food back into his bag, his feet dragging his chair across the grey tiled floor as he moved closer to the desk where Alicia sat. "What was his name?"

Worried by the interest the young man expressed in her encounter, Alicia swallowed a dry lump which had formed in her throat. "General Eiling?"

"No…"

"What?"

"What did you say?" Barry exclaimed, a large grin filling his features as he leaned inwards in anticipation; his fingers laced together across his lap.

Alicia bit the side of her lip in worry. "I told him my complaint: to take the stick out from up his ass."

Barry started to laugh as he leaned back in his chair, encouraging Alicia to join him. Settling into an easy silence, Alicia continued eating her burger as she stared out of the window beside her to the city below. It really was an amazing view, she was surprised that Barry got any work done full stop.

"Self-defence?"

Alicia was pulled from her reverie as she turned back to Barry, his eyes were latched on to the leaflet she had found in her apartment earlier as it hung half out of her bag.

Feeling her cheeks blush as a result, Alicia placed her burger down and leaned across stuffing the flyer back into her bag and zipping it shut. "Oh that… Ha… uh"

"Are you doing self-defence?" Barry questioned again, his eyes alight.

"I don't know. Maybe, a friend of mine proved a point the other day."

Barry smirked mischievously, "What that you can't fight back?"

"No I can fight back, I'm just not very good at it." Alicia answered rather defensively, her voice changing pitch half way through her exclamation.

Barry shook his head slowly, the same smile still plastered across his features. "I'm not the best at fighting either, hence why I stay in the lab."

"You should come along as well." Alicia blurted suddenly. Biting the inside of her mouth, the young woman felt her cheeks beginning to burn a deep red, stuttering she continued as if normal. "-If you want that is… You don't have to, I'm sorry…"

"No its fine-" Barry waved the comment away, his own features looking rather sheepish. "I probably couldn't anyway my schedule is kind of irregular at the moment."

"I hear you its fine!" Alicia reasoned, although inside her stomach fell a little. Feeling put off her food, the young woman folded the burger back up and placed it inside the paper bag once again. "Besides I might start doing it. Especially after what happened last night… or what I think happened last night."

"What happened?" Barry jumped suddenly, his eyes glazed over with what Alicia thought looked like worry.

"I think someone may have broken in to my apartment…"

Barry frowned as he rested his arm against his desk. "Did you see them?"

"No… No I didn't but the window was open this morning, and I swear I shut it last night."

"How do you know that someone was there then?"

Alicia laughed half-heartedly earning an eyebrow raise from Barry in response. Fiddling with her nails nervously, the young woman continued. "I know this is going to sound stupid… but one of my pictures is missing, it's of me and Andy."

"Someone broke in to your house and stole a picture?" Barry drawled out slowly, his second eyebrow raising to meet the other inquisitively. Alicia sighed, he probably didn't believe her theory either.

"I think so… I mean I literally tipped the whole apartment out to search for it in case I misplaced it, hence my lateness."

Barry nodded slowly before leaning back into his chair, his hands raising as he articulated while he spoke. "Well… If you really think someone broke in and-"

"Am I being stupid? Jumping to conclusion?" Alicia interrupted.

Barry opened his mouth wide as he frantically shook his head in response. "No! No, you're doing the right thing. You should report it, they'll ask you to fill out some forms but if it happens again then they will know it's linked."

Alicia took comfort in the young man's suggestion, the uneasy sensation which caused turmoil in her stomach beginning to settle. "Thanks Barry…"

Barry's eyes met Alicia's. "Its fine, Alicia, anytime."

Holding the gaze for a couple of moments, Alicia drew herself back to life by coughing into her fist. Sitting upright, the young woman folded her arms across the desk as she leaned closer. "Anyway Barry, about what happened…"

"Barry." A new voice announced.

Alicia sighed inwardly to the disturbance, she had just summoned enough courage to tell Barry about her conversation with Iris. Turning to the door to face the new voice, Alicia recognised the blonde TV show detective from the bar the previous night.

"Eddie." Barry greeted as he stood upwards from his chair.

Nodding the blonde detective turned to Alicia, his arm outstretched as he smiled warmly. "You're the girl from the museum… Miss-"

Standing upwards from her own chair, Alicia held her own arm out in response. "Alicia Norris"

"Hi Alicia." Eddie greeted as he took her hand and shook it in greeting.

"Hey." Alicia murmured in reply. Dropping the shake, the young woman tucked her hand behind her back as she stood rather awkwardly between the two- if she had to admit it- good looking men.

Turning back to Barry, Eddie's face seemed to take a rather uneasy look. "So Barry, I'm not the one who organised this okay? but Iris told me to pass it on to you."

Stuffing his hand into his trouser pocket, the detective pulled free a folded flyer. Stepping closer to Barry's desk, he proceeded to throw it down onto the surface.

Tilting her head, Alicia followed Barry's gaze as she read the front of the flyer.

"Halloween Haunted House?" Barry questioned out loud.

Eddie nodded as he tucked his hands into his pockets and leaned his back against Barry's desk. "Yeah, it's a party being organised by the owners of Jitters, they're holding it at a bar across town and are selling tickets for entry. All of the profits go to a charity which was set up to help one of their employees."

Alicia gawped as she stared at the Halloween flyer, the image of a haunted house seemed to have been drawn by a young kid. "That's sweet." She muttered in response.

"Yeah-" Eddie agreed glancing briefly across to Alicia, before turning his attention back to Barry. "Iris told me to pass that on to you, she's gone ahead and brought a bunch of tickets already. She also said to say that there's no getting out of this one."

"Uh…" Barry paused as he picked the flyer up and stuffed it into his own pocket. "Thanks Eddie."

Eddie shrugged as he stepped away from Barry's desk, pulling his hands free he proceeded to pat the forensic on the arm. "No problem pal, just… I'm going as a zombie so you'll have to pick something else. Easiest I could think of."

"It's… wait…" Barry reached into his pocket, pulling the flyer free again. Eyes widening, the young man seemed to groan slightly. "Dressing up? But its tomorrow!"

"I know, that's why I'm going as a zombie" Eddie smirked as he folded his arms across his chest. "Quick and easy to do…"

"I am sure Barry can find something…" Alicia interrupted, a large grin on her face from witnessing the amusing conversation.

"-For example you could go as…" The young woman tried not to laugh at the thought of her oncoming joke. "Count Barry-Alcular!"

Alicia snorted to herself slightly, her eyes widening for comedic effect. However only Eddie seemed to crack a small smile, Barry on the other hand face palmed.

The young woman sighed as she fell back into her chair once again. "My jokes are really scraping the bottom of the barrel." She paused, the smile filling her face again.

Barry seemed to note the smirk, his head shaking slowly in response. Alicia ignored it however and continued with her pathetic Halloween puns.

"Sorry Barry… Arggghh-llen," Alicia threw her arms up as a zombie, stressing the 'r' sound.

Barry dropped his head into his hand once again while Eddie chucked slightly. "You're killing me!" The detective yelled.

Alicia frowned as she laughed nervously, Barry lifting his head from his 'shield of hands' to send a similarly confused expression across to Eddie.

Shrugging the detective continued. "Get it… I'm going as a Zombie… which is dead… killing me?"

"Oh yeah!" Alicia exclaimed, pointing across to the detective. Sending a wayward glance to Barry, the young woman sighed. "See Eddie gets it."

Smirking Barry settled back into his chair as the detective glanced down at his watch.

"Anyway I should get going, apparently the General wants to speak to the Captain. He doesn't seem to believe that we gave over all the evidence we have." Eddie explained, his feet already shuffling back towards the entrance of the lab.

"Good luck with him." Alicia grumbled more to herself than anyone else.

"Cya." Eddie waved as he left the lab.

Falling into silence again, Alicia waited a few moments before she retained her original position before the Detective had entered. "So what evidence didn't you give?"

Barry's eyes widened as he seemed to stutter for a few moments. "It's about the bombing case, apparently the military handle their own and because it wasn't a civilian case we had to give everything over. So I did… hence why I haven't got the case anymore."

Alicia nodded in a sympathetic understanding, when in reality relief washed over her. "That's probably for the best…" She slipped.

"Huh?" Barry frowned as he tilted his head towards her.

Blushing for speaking before her mind had caught up, Alicia continued. "Doesn't matter… But I think you'll find that you probably met what she was running from. I mean, after sharing an elevator with the guy I practically ran the rest of the way to your lab."

Barry hummed in understanding, his eyes glazed over as he obviously slipped into a reverie. Coughing lightly for his attention, Alicia grabbed her drink and took another sip.

Shaking his head, Barry pushed onwards. "Anyway your message last night?"

"Oh yeah-" Alicia paused, it was time to muster that courage again. "-So I spoke to Iris last night and… well it didn't exactly go as easy as planned."

"She said no? Figured… thanks for trying A-"

"No" Alicia interrupted, her hands flying upwards in response. "No what I mean is…I- I didn't exactly convince her out of it…"

"What do you mean?" Barry asked with a confused glance, his arms crossed over his chest.

Playing with her nails, Alicia closed her eyes before she spoke. "Instead of telling her not to continue, Barry, I convinced her to write it."

"You…" Barry trailed off. Opening her eyes, Alicia watched his face change with different emotions before settling with confusion. "What?"

Alicia sighed as she noted the forensic had started playing with his hands, obviously a nervous tick which they both seemed to share. "Listen, before you get mad. I knew Iris would never have listened to me okay? So I figured that she needed to trust me a little first, I needed to be her friend. So I acted like I was on her side, and I convinced her that I followed the blog weeks ago and believed she was doing good. It worked. Kind of…"

Barry remained silent, his eyes locked onto Alicia's. Taking the silence as a good thing, the young woman continued. "While we were talking I realised that she didn't really acknowledge the danger which came with it. She doesn't believe in it. You said so yourself-"

"You mentioned a plan?" Barry interrupted, "In your message…"

"Yeah, so from knowing she didn't acknowledge the danger I conjured up a plan. I figured, instead of waiting for the real deal to happen… you know like an attack on her life, why don't we orchestrate one?" Alicia finished suddenly.

Barry paused his fumbling.

"You want to kidnap Iris?" He questioned, his voice one of sarcasm.

"No! Not Iris! She would recognise you and-" Alicia paused, she didn't want to tell Barry she was involving the Impossible man, especially seeing as Iris had told her that he didn't believe in him. "-my friend. He will be the outside help which we will need to fake my kidnapping!"

"Your kidnapping?" Barry repeated, the same tone of disbelief evident in his voice.

"Yeah! That way she will panic and blame the blog, therefore shutting the blog down. All you will need to do is fake a police investigation into my disappearance, while I get my 'kidnapper' which will be my friend to take me somewhere else." Alicia completed the recital of her plan, in her own opinion the whole situation had played out a lot better than it had in her head. It was obvious that Iris obviously meant a lot to Barry, but whether he could lie to her face to ensure her safety was something she wasn't so sure on.

"So?" The young woman pressured after a few moments of uneasy silence.

Barry began to shake his head furiously as he stood upwards from his chair. "That won't work."

"What do you mean it won't work?" Alicia responded instantly, also standing up and away from the comfort of her chair.

"We can't do it- I can't do it. I mean even your other friend might not even be able to do it. It hinges on a lot Alicia, Iris would just work it all out." Barry trailed off, his hands running through his hair as he turned his back to Alicia and began to wander around the lab.

Alicia paused as she nodded with reason. "I know she's smart but-"

Barry continued as he raised his voice slightly to speak over her. "Joe would never agree to this either. The whole point is to take her away from danger, not create a fake one, she would just blame herself for everything… you don't know what she's like. I think its best we just stick with the original plan, its good you're getting closer to Iris to ask her, but no fake kidnappings ok?"

Turning the young man proceeded to stare straight at Alicia.

Tilting her head, Alicia felt her eyes prick slightly as they began to water. She felt so stupid and embarrassed, what exactly was she thinking? Of course they wouldn't want to orchestrate a fake kidnapping to end the blog, especially when it meant Iris would blame herself. Who knew what that would do to her emotionally? Plus, Alicia reasoned it would put Barry's friendship with Iris at risk, which was a lot more established and more valuable than their own. "Sure Barry, I was only trying to help."

Barry sighed, obviously noticing the startled expression Alicia bore. "I know, I know. I appreciate it, I really do."

Alicia nodded as she realised she couldn't stay in the room any longer. She knew her cheeks were probably burning a deep red, and it was starting to get really hot. "You know what… I should probably get going… I have to go meet someone."

Barry frowned as he stepped forwards, his hand gesturing to Alicia's bag of food. "What about lunch?"

"I- I'm not actually that hungry…" Alicia excused as she grabbed her leather coat and begun to pull it on over her shoulders.

"But you said that you hadn't…"

"Yeah I've really got to go, Monica sent me a message…" Alicia lied as she grabbed her black leather bag from the centre of the desk. Wandering towards the door, Alicia glanced back to Barry briefly. "Bye-"

"Alicia-" Barry called after her as she rounded the door.

Ignoring his call, Alicia began Jogging down the corridor her bag held close under her arm as she reached the top of the oak stairs. She had probably just ruined her potential friendship with Barry, all over a stupid plan to try and convince Iris out of writing a stupid blog. Alicia knew she was over reacting to some degree, but the embarrassment from being shot down just made the whole situation uncomfortable. Being who she was, she reacted the only way she knew in those situations.

Skipping as fast as she could down the oak stairs, Alicia groaned to herself. She was feeling really hot and sticky, uncomfortably so. She really needed to get some air.

Crossing the lobby in no time, Alicia soon reached the elevator; its doors already open and waiting. Stepping inside without a moment's hesitation, the young woman dipped as she sighed deeply; a moment of calm.

Regaining her emotions, Alicia turned to the control panel where she pressed the button for the ground floor. Staring ahead out of the doors, her eyes instantly latched on to the figure of General Eiling. The General appeared to be leaving the main office area for the detectives, his line of sight locked straight on the elevator as he strode straight towards her.

Turning back to the control panel once again, Alicia began frantically mashing the close door button. The last thing she needed after the embarrassing confrontation with Barry, was to sit in a confined space with the likes of him.

With a soft chime sound the doors signalled that they were closing. Turning back to the lobby, Alicia watched the General through the ever closing gap. Noticing that he would never make the elevator in time, Alicia began smirking as she even risked a short cocky wave at General Eiling.

In response the man ceased in his stride towards her, instead deciding to stare at her through his hard cold eyes; their gazes locked until the bronze doors of the elevator broke their line of sight.

Shivering, Alicia crossed her arms over her chest where she returned to mulling over how the afternoon had gone from good to bad so quickly.

* * *

**A/N - So what would you choose? Big Belly Burger or Mama Chows?**


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